He also points out that Surface's success need not be measured exclusively by how it fares against the iPad. The product is designed to compete against tablets running Google's Android operating system, which have fared miserably in the market compared to the iPad, and the emerging ultrabook platform, with its premium on thin, light computing.

Critics of Surface, though, say the concept was flawed from the drawing board. It has an identity crisis because it can't decide if it's a tablet or a laptop, asserts , of Business Insider. At the reported price of $600, it's going to cost too much, too, he adds.

Pricing is also a concern of , of Cnet, as well as low battery life and . There's also a question of whether the tablets will be as worry free as their Apple competitors, especially following the flub that occurred during the products' introduction.

Beyond the physical aspects of Surface, a psychological element may be the most difficult obstacle of all to the success of Microsoft's tablet, as observes in Bloomberg Businessweek.

"Microsoft making hardware is not a natural action," he writes. "It's what the company does in times of desperation. With the release of Windows 8 looming, Microsoft was indeed desperate for a hardware company to do something to blunt Apple's runaway tablet machine. The Surface tablet represents an indictment of the entire PC and device industry, which has stood by for a couple of years trying to mimic Apple with a parade of hapless, copycat products."