"That was an Apple-type presentation," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Gartner, in an interview Monday. "It was weird. It was like Ballmer was channeling Steve Jobs."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off the press conference, a traditional Jobs' chore -- and one Apple's current CEO Tim Cook replicated at this month's Worldwide Developers Conference -- then handed the bulk of the event over to a succession of executives before wrapping it up.

"There's not anything wrong in learning from successful competitors," said Gottheil. "Even companies far outside the tech world have learned from Apple. You tell a story, show some passion and pay attention to the details of how you tell the story. [Apple's] formula is so good that even the charismatic-inhibited, like [Tim] Cook, can do it."

And apparently so can the usually-emotive Ballmer, who was uncharacteristically low-key -- another trait of Apple's product announcements.

But Gottheil rejected the idea fronted by others that the Surface unveiling was a forerunner of a totally revamped Microsoft, one which would duplicate every aspect of Apple, not just its launch template. Those pundits have speculated that Microsoft will mimic Apple's obsessiveness about control, and will want to rule all parts of its ecosystem, from the hardware to the software to content to the cloud.