[brudgers]

Microsoft has had an interest in producing tablets since they were working on the Courier in the run-up to the iPad's release (and of course Surface itself is related).

In the current market, tablets appear to be similar to game consoles - consumers are willing to accept a closed ecosystem (e.g. iPad, Chromium, Kindle). So Microsoft may be assuming that a branded tablet is a reasonably sound strategy, particularly given the lackluster interest among consumers in Android and Linux based tablets from mainline electronics manufacturers.