Microsoft's Surface tablets have an image problem.The company on Monday unveiled its newest tablets that feature jacked-up components and nifty new dual-position kickstands. The Surface 2, which runs Windows RT, now will come with Outlook, while the Surface Pro 2, which runs Windows 8.1, will continue to operate like a full PC. Microsoft fixed nearly every hardware issue that buyers criticized in the first versions of the devices while sticking with the same essential design.

But it faces a big hurdle in getting consumers to look at its newest products differently from their predecessors. As much as Microsoft has tried to make Surface seem cool, it's still largely seen as a tablet for business users. The first Surface Pro ran work-related programs, but its battery drained faster than some laptops. Meanwhile, people who bought the RT version of Surface quickly found it couldn't access old programs, and it didn't even have some of the key consumer apps, such as Facebook.

Microsoft has fixed some of those issues with its new devices -- such as making Facebook available later this year -- but it will be tough to make those changes clear to buyers. Many already are confused about the differences between the full version of Windows versus RT, and that's not something that will become any less confusing with the newest Surface products.

"The trick is getting people to look at this thing fresh," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at tech research firm Enderle Group. "If it carries the stigma of the old product, it's not going to sell any better now."

Sales of Microsoft's first Surface tablets -- the Pro with an Intel chip and RT with an Nvidia processor -- have been dismal since their launch nearly a year ago. Microsoft had to write down $900 million for Surface RT in July, and the software giant that same month revealed it had generated only $853 million in revenue from Surface RT and Surface Pro since their debut last fall.

By: DocMemory
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