(Reuters) - Microsoft and Google's Motorola Mobility unit are set to square off on Tuesday at a trial with strategic implications for the smartphone patent wars and which could reveal financial information the two companies usually keep under wraps. The proceeding in a Seattle federal court will determine how much of a royalty Microsoft Corp should pay Google Inc for a license to some of Motorola's patents. Google bought Motorola for $12.5 billion, partly for its library of communications patents. If U.S. ...

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NEW YORK/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp put its Surface tablet center stage at its Windows 8 launch event, hoping the sleek new device will spark a fightback against Apple Inc and Google Inc in the exploding mobile computing market. With interest in traditional computers waning, the world's largest software company is attempting to reinvent the Windows PC in a new format and directly challenge Apple's all-conquering iPad. ...

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SEATTLE (Reuters) - U.S. shoppers woke up with mild Surface fever on Friday, lining up in moderate numbers to buy Microsoft's groundbreaking tablet computer designed to challenge Apple's iPad. The global debut of the Windows 8 operating system was greeted with pockets of enthusiasm, but not the mania reserved for some previous Apple Inc launches. Microsoft is positioning the slick new computing device, which runs a limited version of Windows and Office with a thin, click-on keyboard cover, as a perfect combination of PC and tablet that is good for work as well as entertainment. ...

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REUTERS - Tech bloggers and other reviewers praised Microsoft Corp's new Surface RT tablet for beautiful design but said a shortage of applications and a slow operating system meant the result was heartbreak for users. Microsoft begins selling the Surface on Friday, joining the fight in a tablet market dominated by Apple Inc's iPads and devices using Google Inc's Android system. Reviewers given the product early to play with it said its first version paled in comparison with the iPad. ...

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Today Microsoft will have the official coming out party for its maybe-too-different Surface tablet and the baffling Windows 8 operating system that goes along with it. Since its first over-hyped Surface related event in June, we've learned all the things about the gadget Microsoft didn't tell us the first time around. Like: the $500 price tag for the 32 GB model, the availability: tomorrow, and the not-as-good-as-the-iPad 7-hour battery life. At this point, reviewers and some customers have played with both tablets, giving us the impressions we'd need to make a purchase. ...

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It’s not just know-nothing bloggers who think Microsoft’s (MSFT) Surface is overpriced — some tech industry analysts think so as well. Per Business Insider, Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu sent a note to investors on Thursday saying that the Surface’s “high pricing could prove to be a fatal mistake and relegate it to be a niche No. 4 or No. 5 player.” Wu says that after the iPad, he expects Google’s (GOOG) Nexus 7 and Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle Fire to outperform the Surface unless Microsoft significantly cuts its pricing. Wu thinks Microsoft should have sold the Surface for just $300 with the Touch Cover keyboard pad included. Read

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Microsoft just announced its own tablet, named Surface. If you want a play-by-play account of the announcement, you can read our liveblog, but here are the basics...

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