Why Microsoft might be looking to make cheap Surface tablets again

Stop me if you've heard this one: Microsoft, beaten to the tablet market by Apple, wants to build an alternative, one that runs Windows and gives more bang for the buck.

That, of course, was the whole strategy behind the original Microsoft Surface that launched with Windows 8 in 2012. And it's also apparently the playbook Microsoft is again working from now that Bloomberg is reporting the company is looking to debut a new, lower-cost iPad competitor with the Surface brand later this year. 

That's weird, because we all know how the Surface plan played out: The first one was a billion-dollar disaster, but when Microsoft refocused around the Surface Pro line and stopped trying to compete with the iPad and instead market its powerful tablet PC as a MacBook alternative, sales soared, and the Surface found its niche as a high-end Windows machine. Read more...