Tech

Reduced to Clear

For the first time ever, I set my eyes on Microsoft's "iPad-killer" today: the Surface RT. That's not quite right; I didn't see the actual device. I saw its box, in John Lewis, with a "reduced to clear" sticker on the front.

Surface has only just arrived on these shores, and already shops don't want it.

On another shelf a little further along was a stack of Humax YouView boxes, all sporting the same "reduced to clear" decal.

YouView was launched with significant hype this autumn too, after a well-publicised many-year delay. (The original proposal aimed for delivery in late 2009.)

Personally I'd like both Surface and YouView to succeed, but right now it's not clear whether they'll still be around even half-way into 2013.