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Microsoft Moves Hardware In-House

Nearing the launch of its first personal computer, the Surface, Microsoft is promising to make a lot more hardware in-house. “We'll dive in," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told BBC News regarding the company’s gadget ambitions. “Where we see important opportunities to set a new standard.”

“Ballmer … is taking the company away from its foundations in software to become more of a hardware and services company, like long-time rival Apple,” writes Reuters.

“In his annual letter to shareholders, Ballmer said more or less the same,” The Register recalls.

“There will be times when we build specific devices for specific purposes, as we have chosen to do with Xbox and the recently announced Microsoft Surface,” Ballmer wrote earlier this month.

“It's true that Microsoft's successful Xbox gaming console counts as hardware,” PCMag points out. “But when it came to the release of the Surface tablet, the company suggested it was intended to inspire other hardware makers to use its software rather than beat them at their own game.”

“Exactly what will come next is unclear, however, though with the obvious effort and investment Microsoft put into developing Surface hardware … it seems unlikely that the firm will be content to settle back to keyboards, mice, and webcams,” SlashGear writes. 

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