NEW YORK: Just a month after setting a launch date for a giant touch-screen tablet designed and built in Wilsonville, Microsoft said Monday the new Surface Hub will be delayed indefinitely.
The massive touch-screen computer runs from $7,000 to $20,000 depending on whether buyers choose the 55-inch Surface Hub or the 84-inch version. It’s based on technology Microsoft acquired in 2012 when it bought a company called Perceptive Pixel.
Microsoft hopes the giant tablet will improve collaboration in the boardroom and replace the digital projector. Oregon has a long history in electronic display technology, and the company has hired veterans of InFocus and other Silicon Forest businesses to help create the device.
In a blog post Monday, Microsoft Surface general manager Brian Hall wrote the Surface Hub is attracting “strong demand,” but that’s prompting the company to change its manufacturing process in anticipation of “bigger scale.” He gave no indication of the actual sales volume.
Microsoft had planned to begin shipping the Surface Hub September 1. That won’t happen, Hall wrote; he did not say when the device will actually ship, promising an update next month.
