The best career moves of five senior executives

The turning point that planning is an essential part in one’s life needs no reiteration.

But how your career pans out after a point is more about the choices you make and less about abilities. Five senior executives share the defining moves in their careers:

Rajiv Anand, 48 President, retail banking, Axis Bank

Keep it Simple 

Director-category management, Amazon India I moved into my current job as the Head of the Retail Bank of Axis Bank a little over a year ago. This is a world quite unlike anything I have done so far in my career.

The size of the business is large both in terms of breadth and depth. A large distributionnetwork and a diverse set of customers, the affluent at one end of the spectrum and the unbanked at the other, bring a different level of complexity to the job.

Managing this on a day-today basis and at the same time positioning the bank’s services to serve the ever-changing needs of our customers is what makes my day enjoyable.

While I have had a successful career in the MF industry, I do believe my move into the current job has been the most dramatic one that I have made in my career. The most complex part of my job, however, and the most exciting is to make banking simple.

S Raghunandan, 48 CEO, Jyothy Laboratories

Versatility of Experience

The defining moment in my career was when I decided to move out of an MNC and join an Indian company way back in 2002. I worked with HLL for 9 years and this was absolutely brilliant in terms of grounding and learning. But I really got to implement, contribute and deliver strong business results when I joined Dabur India in 2002.

Having worked with Dabur, Paras and now with Jyothy, I have been fortunate to have played a major role in the turning around these companies. I joined these companies when they were just about professionalising the organisation and played a part in organisation building, talent development and creating a strong foundation for the business. The sheer versatility of experience has made me more confident about taking on stiff business challenges.

Building the International business for Dabur, joining Paras – a small organisation – and growing it at 40% CAGR for two years under private equity, selling the Paras business at 6X revenue to Reckitt, joining Jyothy labs and turning around a loss-making Henkel business and making the acquisition work are some of the defining moments in my career.

VS Parthasarathy, 50 CFO, Group CIO, EVP – Group M&A & member of the group executive board, Mahindra & Mahindra

Cut the Rope and Move Forward

At Xerox, I was a financial controller and CFO handling more than just Xerox India. Out of the blue came an offer to join a tractor organisation, the Mahindra Group. I am a finance controller and here was a role of HR transformation and it that had nothing to do with finance. So, that was the kind of career move I made.

One needs to have the courage to cut the rope at the right time and move forward. I did it when I moved from Xerox to M&M. During the first couple of months I was totally out of water.

It made me understand the importance of transformation, HR, and people and how big a role technology can play in a business role. These two facets, along with my business acumen and financial knowledge, then came into play and I said to myself, I can do any role well.

Samir Kumar, 42 Keep it Simple Director-category management, Amazon India

Mentoring Lessons

This was in early 2005. At the time, I was managing the front-end engineering team at Amazon in Seattle and I had only worked in technical roles. I was looking for a career change and had decided to quit and apply for an MBA in finance. At the time, our VP finance advised me to join his team and learn finance on the job rather than joining a B-school. For me, that proved to be one of the best advices because I worked in finance operations for two years and got extensive insights about how the business worked right from reading balance sheets to managing cost-centres in a working environment.

There was another major event. In late 2009, Amazon gave me a rare opportunity to shadow Diego Piacentini, SVP, International Retail. A technical advisor (shadow) role enables an Amazon employee to sit on the bench and observe a senior leader and learn from him. While I was in the shadow role, I not only got to learn immensely from Diego but also from several senior leaders who work with Jeff Bezos directly and understand how they think about the business. Most importantly, I got a lot of important insights about emerging markets, especially China. Those two years of shadowing Diego prepared me to take on a much larger responsibility.

Sonali Dhawan, 38 Marketing Director, P&G India

Learn and Grow

At P&G, I was offered the responsibility of brand manager in my mid-twenties, for one of our regional hair care brands, which gave me a blank canvas to change the game.

Playing this leadership role across the Asean-Australasia-India markets accelerated my learning curve with the challenge of crafting the entire brand proposition from identifying target, developing campaigns to executing it across regions. It enabled me to grow and develop as a P&G marketer with the ability to make business decisions keeping the consumer at the core.

The other more recent opportunity that comes to mind is when I accepted the role of managing director for our pet care business across the Asia and Australasia-New Zealand markets.

Leading a multi-functional leadership team from diverse backgrounds representing eight different nationalities while simultaneously growing a business in a volatile external environment gave me a holistic business understanding, right from the plant to the store. This experience has taught me that in times of business challenge or success, a focus on people will drive change.This move led me to my current role.

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‘BFSI and manufacturing industry will be the largest adopters of cloud services’

Lovleen Bhatia, co-founder and director, Edureka believes that quality of solutions and post-sales service are major drivers to accelerate cloud adoption among SMEs in India…

What are the benefits of “living in the cloud?” The risks?

There are multiple benefits associated with ‘living in the cloud’ which are – low total cost of ownership and reduced on-going and life-cycle costs, an increased availability of resources and data backed by a robust delivery.

Apart from these incidental benefits of the cloud, it is an extremely scalable and flexible model which offers the benefit of pay-as-you-go. While it enables larger collaboration and community computing (which allows for the functioning of a mobile workforce), it also makes way for inexpensive disaster recovery options.

Risks involved are mostly in regard to privacy breaches, identity theft, technical glitches and failures like data corruption, lack of control, particularly with the implementation of BYOD and location centric issues (geographical limitations) to an extent. However, the stakeholders of the cloud market are optimistic of the fact that with the pace at which innovation is evolving; very soon these risks will be en passé.

How are mid-sized organizations adapting to cloud technology and what are the popular applications being put in cloud?

Small and medium-sized businesses are adapting to cloud to give a boost to their overall business growth, saving their time and allowing them time to expand and innovate. The quality of solutions and post-sales service are the major drivers to accelerate cloud adoption among SMEs in India. The total number of channel partners catering to SMEs in India has increased by nearly 10 – 15 percent from the previous year, while the number of cloud channel partners increased by approximately 25-30 percent. This translates to a significant shift in the number of providers offering cloud-based services solutions.

A very good instance would be to talk about small co-operative banks which are using cloud services for hosting core banking solutions which is in a way well setting an example for the SME segment that cloud is the way forward for growth and success.

What is the talent scenario in India for cloud computing?

After personal computers and internet, cloud computing is going to be the most powerful and transformative technology tool for the world. However, companies have started to echo hard about cultivating talents with the right skill set to manage this revolutionary change that the economy is planning to welcome. According to IDC, cloud computing will generate as much as 14 million new jobs worldwide by 2015 and India itself will have over 2 million new job opportunities. These would require personnel with special skills and set of knowledge which we are afraid is not as it will be demanded in future.

What are the roles that will be in demand in 2014?

Roles in demand would be: Cloud architects well versed with private and hybrid cloud models and niche cloud architects with expertise in niche offerings like salesforce.com, Amazon web services (AWS) etc. Experts believe that demand will swell especially for those who can cover all the 9 OSI layers, from Infra to SaaS. Besides, companies will also look for specific stack experts like AWS, Azure, Google or OpeStack, OpenShift, Stackato, VmWare, etc.

For lateral movement what kind of up skilling (certification, courses) is required to move to cloud computing?

Understanding of the basics of cloud computing is important for entering into this market. Professional courses which are at par with global standards are being offered by Indian players at one tenth the cost than the global counterparts and that too with added advantage of 24×7 live web support and post course completion, lifetime support on study materials.

What is the potential of cloud computing in India in the next 5 years?

Financial services and manufacturing industries are and will be the largest adopters of cloud services, having got on the bandwagon early. Communications and technology industries are also leveraging cloud computing in significant volumes and the public sector has begun to explore the potential of cloud services.

What are your current talent challenges?

Industry veterans have often been complaining about a dearth of skilled people, particularly in the fields of Big Data, Analytics and Hadoop. Interestingly, as most of the work centred in these domains is based on Cloud solutions, the lack of talent is drilling down to a broader base of people employed in the area of cloud capability.

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Employees prefer in-hand salary to any other benefit

87% employees prefer a customised compensation structure; organisations need to take that into account while designing benefits

According to the TimesJobs.com’s latest Compensation and Benefit survey, rising inflation and increasing cost of living has led employees to re-evaluate their priorities on how they are compensated for their work. Our survey indicates that most employees, across generations, prefer a higher ‘in-hand’ pay out compared to other components of the salary.

Generation-wise preference

While everyone prefers to take home a higher component of the salary, importance of other benefits depend on what generation the worker belongs to. According to our survey, Baby Boomers, owing to their proximity to retirement, give more importance to post retirement benefits after the in-hand salary in their compensation and benefits package. Gen X, on the other hand, prefers other benefits such as flexible work arrangements and more work life balance. This generation is typically at a stage where they are supporting either ageing parents or growing children, or both. Finally, Gen Y gives almost equal preference to retirement, medical and other benefits.

Explaining this trend, Jappreet Sethi, an HR advisor and employee engagement expert said that Gen Y is more aware and understands that the world will be a different place by the time they retire. “Asking for retirement benefits and medical plans is about factoring in the realty that these are essentials and not, ‘good to have’.” While generations dictate the preference of the compensation and benefit structure, priorities also differ according to the level of the employees. ‘In-hand’ salary matters more to the junior level employees than the mid or senior level. Kishore Sambasivam, director-total rewards, SAP, attributes this trend to the fact that employees at junior levels are typically single and seek ownership. They do not want money locked up in a PF or superannuation benefit.Employees at this level want to plan their investment strategies which may have a higher risk and  return profile.

Factor-in their goals

Effective management starts by understanding who you are managing. This boils down to knowing the expectation the workers have from the organisation. As indicated by our survey, the future of compensation will be a customised compensation and benefit package to suit the needs of the employee. According to the survey, almost 90 per cent employees prefer a customised compensation package. Their priority of what is more important to them depends on the stage of their career and their age.

According to Sambasivam, employees prefer flexibility in their compensation structure. This is dependent on the changing demographic profile, priorities, preferences, risk orientation, individuality and ‘live-in-the-present’ mindset. Traditionally, companies focused on long-term orientation such as Provident Fund (PF), superannuation, company provided accommodation, Leave Travel Allowance (LTA), loans etc. Now, employees prefer more cash-in hand as it gives them the flexibility to spend as per their aspirations and lifestyle.

“Companies need to be cognizant of the same and modify their compensation structure and philosophies in line with the changing expectations of the workforce”, added Sambasivam.

Like employees, organisations also prioritise the components of compensation and benefits differently. This is based on whether they are wooing a new employee or retaining a current employee. As per the survey, 60 per cent organisations pay more attention to the CTC while hiring a  new employee. While retaining an employee, 61 per cent organisations prefer to give them a growth  path. Experts agreed that in the intensifying war for talent, compensation becomes a significant differentiator while wooing candidates. As opposed to hiring, organisations need to focus on other  things for retention. Attrition is usually driven by career and role aspects. Compensation cannot make up for an enticing role that a competitor might offer.

Our survey threw up some interesting results for benefits as well. IT showed that 53 per cent Gen X voted for health care insurance as a preferred benefit. Baby Boomers voted for flexible compensation (42%) and paid leave (40%). Surprisingly, Gen Y voted for disability insurance and retirement benefits as their preference.

Summing up, Raghavendra K, vice president and head human resource development, Infosys BPO, said that a healthy compensation and benefit structure should have a balance between financial and non-financial components and should be aligned with the strategic priorities of the organisation.

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Flipkart may announce Rs 2,000cr Myntra buyout on May 22

Flipkart is likely to acquire a majority stake in online fashion retailer Myntra in what could be the biggest consolidation in India's e-commerce sector. 

NEW DELHI: Homegrown e-retailer Flipkart is likely to acquire a majority stake in online fashion retailer Myntra in what could be the biggest consolidation in India's e-commerce sector.

According to sources, the deal could be worth about Rs 2,000 crore. The figure could not be independently verified.

The transaction is likely to be announced tomorrow. Myntra has sent invitations to the media for a conference in Bangalore tomorrow to announce a "strategic development" but did not divulge further details.

The stake acquisition has been in the works for a few months now, with the final details being worked out in the past few weeks.

"We will be unable to comment on market speculation at this stage," a Flipkart spokesperson said.

India's e-commerce market has seen huge growth in the past few years as more people log on to the Internet to shop. While apparel and electronics are bestsellers for most e-commerce firms, categories such as home decor and household items are also popular.

The industry, estimated to be worth about $3 billion currently, has firms such as Snapdeal, eBay and Amazon, which follow the marketplace model.

Flipkart started in 2007 as an online bookstore and now sells products across categories, including fashion and electronics. It now also sells white goods and furniture.

Led by increasing internet penetration and youngsters shopping online, Flipkart's annualised sales crossed $1 billion (over Rs 6,100 crore) a year ahead of target.

The company planned to reach the billion dollar mark for gross merchandise value by 2015.

It also operates under the marketplace model, which allows retailers to offer products on its platform.

Since its inception, the Bangalore-based firm founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal has raised over $500 million from investors including Naspers, Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Dragoneer, Morgan Stanley, Sofina and Vulcan Capital.

Last year, it raised $360 million from private equity firms, one of the largest funding deals in the Indian e-commerce space.

Myntra sells products from over 650 brands like Nike, HRX by Hrithik Roshan, Biba and Steve Madden and clocked revenue of about Rs 1,000 crore in the previous financial year.

It aims to double its revenue in this financial year as it expands its seller base and adds products.

Myntra has about 100 sellers on board and plans to increase this number to 1,000 by fiscal end
.

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Google overtakes Apple as world's top brand: Survey

Google's brand value shot up 40 per cent in a year to $158.84 billion (115 billion euros), Millward Brown said in its 2014 100 Top BrandZ report.

PARIS: US search engine Google has overtaken rival technology titan Apple as the world's top brand in terms of value, global market research agency Millward Brown said on Wednesday. 

Google's brand value shot up 40 per cent in a year to $158.84 billion (115 billion euros), Millward Brown said in its 2014 100 Top BrandZ report. 

"Google has been extremely innovative this year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a range of partnerships," said Benoit Tranzer, the head of Millward Brown France. 

Google Glass is Internet-linked eyewear for which the firm has joined hands with Luxottica, a frame giant behind Ray-Ban and other high-end brands, to sell the new product in the United States. 

"All these activities send a very strong signal to consumers about the essence of Google," Tranzer said. 

Apple, which dominated the top position for three straight years, saw its brand value fall by 20 per cent to $147.88 billion. 

The top 10 of the 100 slots were dominated by US firms. IBM was in third place at $107.54 billion, a fall of 4 per cent, followed by Microsoft at $90.19 billion — a 29 per cent rise. 

Fast food chain McDonald's ranked next at $85.71 billion, followed by Coca Cola ($80.68 billion), it said. 

China led in the insurance sector with Ping An valued at $12.4 billion and China Life ($12 billion). 

French luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton ranked 30th overall but was the top luxury brand with a value of more than $25 billion. 

Brand value is calculated on the basis of the firms' financial performance and their standing among consumers

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Hacking row: Chinese media calls US "mincing rascal"

"Regarding the issue of network security, the US is such a mincing rascal that we must stop developing any illusions about it," wrote the Global Times.

BEIJING: Washington is playing the victim of cyberespionage when in fact it is the world's top intelligence power, a Chinese state-run newspaper on Wednesday said in a sharply-worded editorial.

"Regarding the issue of network security, the US is such a mincing rascal that we must stop developing any illusions about it," wrote the Global Times, which is close to the ruling Communist Party.

On Monday, a US grand jury indicted five Chinese military officers on charges they broke into US computers to benefit Chinese state-owned companies, in the first-ever prosecution by Washington of state actors over cyberespionage.

Beijing responded furiously on Tuesday, summoning US ambassador Max Baucus and accusing Washington of double standards.

Authorities also banned the use of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system on all new government computers and suspended activities of a bilateral cyber-working group.

The Global Times, which often takes a nationalistic stance, said that Washington's "pretentious accusation against Chinese army officers is ridiculous" given that the US National Security Agency itself has engaged in widespread cyberspying through its Prism programme.

"Interpol should have ordered the arrest of designers and implementers of the Prism programme but they did not," the paper wrote. "Therefore the US is acting so shameless by posting photos of the five Chinese army officers."

US prosecutors said the five indicted officers belonged to Unit 61398 of People's Liberation Army.

A report last year by US security firm Mandiant said the unit had thousands of workers operating from a nondescript, 12-storey building on the outskirts of Shanghai to pilfer intellectual property and government secrets.

Beijing has denied the accusations, and the Global Times on Wednesday called them "beyond our imagination."

"It's fresh to us that Chinese military and civil companies have such a close relationship," the paper said
.

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Dubai Police will use Google Glass to nab traffic violators

According to a report in Gulf News, Dubai Police plans to use Google Glass to photograph traffic offenders as well as identify illegal vehicles.

NEW DELHI: Google Glass is not yet available outside the US. But that is not stopping Dubai Police from testing it as a tool that can help cops nab traffic violators. According to a report in Gulf News, Dubai Police plans to use Google Glass to photograph traffic offenders as well as identify illegal vehicles. 
Colonel Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi, general director of Smart Services at Dubai Police, told Gulf News that his department would use two specific apps with the Google Glass. 

"One will allow them (cops) to take photos of traffic violations from the Glass, which will go instantly into our system, and the other application helps identify wanted cars," he said. "We at Dubai Police always try to adopt what is new in the market and we like to stay up-to-date." 

For now, however, the use of Google Glass as a tool to detect traffic violation is in the test phase. Al Razooqi said that if they got the desired results the department "might decide to launch it and buy more of it". 

Google Glass, a head-mounted tiny computer that also has a camera, was showed to public by Google in 2011. Since then it has gone through several hardware revisions and software improvements. However, it is not yet available for sale outside the US. Even in the US, the availability is only through a Google website as part of the Explorer Programme. The gadget is not yet available in the retail market. 

One of the reasons behind the slow development of Google Glass has been questions around its usefulness. While it looks futuristic and it has got attention from early adopters, Google Glass doesn't offer any compelling use case for mainstream consumers. That said, doctors, explorers and cops, including some in New York Police Department, are testing the device in ways that may help them do their jobs more efficiently
.

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Ebay asks all users to change passwords

EBay issued a notice on its websites asking users to change their passwords, but took down the message a short time later.

E-commerce company eBay said client identity information including emails, addresses and birthdays was stolen in a hacking attack between late February and early March. 

EBay urged users to change their passwords after the attack on a database that also contained encrypted passwords, physical addresses and phone numbers. 

The company said it found no evidence of any unauthorized access to financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats. 

EBay shares fell as much as 3.2% on Wednesday morning after the latest high-profile hacking attack on a U.S. company. 

"For the time being, we cannot comment on the specific number of accounts impacted," eBay spokeswoman Kari Ramirez said. "However, we believe there may be a large number of accounts involved and we are asking all eBay users to change their passwords." 

EBay said it was investigating the breach and working with law enforcement agencies. 

The company also said it had not seen any indication of increased fraudulent account activity on eBay and that there was no evidence that its online payment service PayPal had been affected in the attack. 

The attack on eBay was made through compromised employee accounts that allowed unauthorized access to its corporate network, the company said in a statement. It said the breach was first detected about two weeks ago. 

"The real key question going forward will be if any money has been stolen, or any unauthorized activity been performed," Wedbush Securities analyst Gil Luria said. 

"As long as this is not the case, this thing will come and go and will not be an issue for eBay," Luria said. 

EBay earlier issued a notice on its PayPal website asking users to change their passwords, but took down the message a short time later without explanation. 

The message, issued at 1:30 a.m. ET, was headlined "eBay To Ask All eBay Users To Change Passwords" but had no other information other than the words "place holder text". 

EBay has been attacked before. In February, hacking group Syrian Electronic Army breached and defaced websites belonging to PayPal UK and eBay. (r.reuters.com/xag59v) 

One of the biggest breaches at a U.S. company was at retailer Target Corp, where hackers stole data from up to 70 million credit and debit cards of shoppers who visited its stores during the first three weeks of the holiday shopping season. 

Last month, U.S. web media company AOL urged its tens of millions of email account holders to change their passwords and security questions after a cyber attack compromised about 2% of its accounts. 

EBay shares fell as low as $50.30 in morning trade on the Nasdaq before recovering to $51.68
.

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Nokia X successor in the works, features leaked

Nokia X2 will be powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor and have 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage.

NEW DELHI: After completing the acquisition of Nokia, Microsoft is continuing working on its Android portfolio. The successor of Nokia X, the first Android phone by the company to hit the market, is reportedly under development and a few key specifications have already leaked online.

According to a screenshot posted on Baidu.com, the upcoming Nokia X2 is powered by the Snapdragon 200 (MSM8210) processor, backed by 1GB RAM. It will also have 4GB internal storage. Nokia X has a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Play processor and 512MB RAM.

Nokia X2 smartphone scores 11827 in Antutu benchmark test, which is nearly as high as to that of Moto E (12528 in our test). The phrase "Nokia X2 2015" is written on top of the screenshot, suggesting that the smartphone may be launched next year.



There is no word on the new software features and other hardware specifications of the successor of Nokia X.

Nokia's Android phones feature a heavily customized user interface that combines the elements of Windows Phone and Asha platforms. These smartphones have been launched as a "feeder" service for Microsoft's Lumia range, giving users access to Lumia-like user interface on Android.

Image courtesy: tieba.baidu.com

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Can Microsoft Surface Pro 3 replace the laptop?

The company's new product, the Surface Pro 3, has a 12-inch screen, larger than many small laptop screens. 

Many people have both laptop computers and tablets and use them for different tasks. Microsoft on Tuesday redoubled its vision that the two devices should be one and the same, introducing a new version of its Surface tablet with a larger screen.

The company's new product, the Surface Pro 3, has a 12-inch screen, larger than many small laptop screens. The more spacious screen reflects a sharpening of Microsoft's belief that it can still distinguish itself in the tablet market, where it is currently an also-ran, with a device that meets professional and personal needs.

Microsoft argues that current tablets, most notably the iPad, are great for watching movies and other forms of entertainment or reading, but are far weaker when it comes to getting work done. The company's proposition is that the Surface can do both well. A bigger display, Microsoft argues, will let people look at more than one application on their screens at the same time — like email and a word processor — as they can on their laptops.

"We want products and technology that enable people to dream and get stuff done," Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, said at an event in New York.

This has been Microsoft's approach since it introduced the original Surface in 2012, however. Earlier Surface versions had a 10.6-inch screen, larger than those on most other tablets.

Microsoft has won praise from many quarters for the design of the Surface, including a cover that also doubles as a laptop-like keyboard and track pad.

Critics of Surface say a hybrid device forces too many design compromises. Timothy D Cook, the chief executive of Apple, once said in reference to the Surface that "you can converge a toaster and refrigerator, but these things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user."

Sales of the Surface have been disappointing, and the company is losing money on the devices. During the first quarter of the year, Microsoft's share of worldwide shipments in the market for tablets and two-in-one computers — tablets with detachable keyboards like the Surface - was 1.3%, putting it in seventh place in the market, according to IDC, the technology research firm. Apple was No. 1 with 32.7%.

The new Surface will start at $799, $100 less than the previous comparable version. The Surface Pro 3, which can be preordered starting on Wednesday, will be available in the US and Canada on June 20.

Before the event on Tuesday, many people expected Microsoft to introduce a smaller Surface, to compete with the iPad Mini, the most popular product in Apple's tablet family. Microsoft is working on such a device, according to a person briefed on the discussions who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. But the company decided against announcing the product on Tuesday, the person said, after Nadella asked the managers of the Surface team if they believed strongly that the device was ready to be shipped.

The Surface team felt the smaller device was not ready, in large part because of software issues, this person said. Microsoft has not completed a version of its Office applications for touch-screen devices running the company's Windows operating system.

Microsoft was concerned that the current Office applications would be difficult to operate on a Surface with a small screen, the person said. A version made for Apple devices has already been released.

"This continues to be a massive uphill battle for Microsoft and Nadella," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. "It feels like a small step in the right direction from a product perspective and strategy perspective."

The innards of the Surface Pro 3 include a microprocessor made by Intel, the chip giant that makes the microprocessor inside most conventional PCs. That means Microsoft's device can run applications written for PCs, unlike the iPad and other tablets.

The new Surface will inevitably be compared with the iPad, and not favorably in many respects. At 1.76 pounds, the Surface Pro 3 is heavier and more expensive than the 1-pound iPad Air, Apple's largest tablet, which starts at $499. Yet Microsoft believes a more apt comparison is Apple's MacBook Air, an ultraslim laptop that is a hit among professionals and starts at $899 and weighs 2.38 pounds.

"This device actually makes a much better argument for consolidating into one device," said JP Gownder, an analyst at Forrester Research.

Panos Panay, a corporate vice president at Microsoft and a creator of the Surface product line, emphasized repeatedly that Microsoft's new product elegantly balanced the capabilities of both devices.

"I am sure that this is the tablet that can replace the laptop," Panay said
.

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