BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Reports that the newly introduced Microsoft Surface tablet will only have Wi-Fi connectivity at first may not hurt the product, but early rumors of the pricing and shorter battery life might.

According to The Next Web, sources close to Microsoft told them the 32 GB Tegra 3 powered RT model will run $599 retail, while the Windows 8 Pro model, with Ivy Bridge, will cost $999.

Surface general manager Panos Panay said earlier that the Windows RT model prices would be “comparable” pricing to other ARM tablets having 32GB and 64GB of storage.

Also, ComputerWorld studied the tablet’s battery life, concluding that its lifespan would be between 6 and 12.5 hours, depending on the model. It would likely fall short of the iPad.

Bloomberg.com reported that the early run of Surface tablets will sell without a connection to mobile phone networks. Apple sells its iPads with a mobile phone chip for Internet access, along with a version having a Wi-Fi only connection.

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Microsoft may save a lot of effort by holding to Wi-Fi initially. According to Venture Beat, reports say that only six percent of all data usage on iPads came from cellular information.

As far as competitive pricing, Samsung’s 10-inch Galaxy Tab 2 is $399, and Apple’s cheapest tablet is the $399 Wi-Fi only 16GB iPad 2, while their Wi-Fi only iPad 3 is $599, comparable to the 32GB Surface pricewise.

And Ultrabooks can be had for $799 to $899.