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LTE-enabled Surface 2 to launch on AT&T, Vodafone

Microsoft also expected to release Surface Mini in spring of 2014.

Mary Jo Foley
Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 30 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008). She also is the cohost of the "Windows Weekly" podcast on the TWiT network.
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Mary Jo Foley
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Microsoft officials committed last week to providing an ARM-based Surface 2 tablet with LTE wireless connectivity in early 2014. This week, Surface execs disclosed that the Surface 2 with LTE would debut on AT&T and Vodafone first.

A number of current and potential Surface users have been requesting an LTE Surface. However, last year Microsoft officials said that the company's telemetry data showed that the majority of potential tablet purchasers didn't want or need LTE.

As GeekWire noted, Microsoft's Surface chief Panos Panay made the announcement at a Microsoft Surface promotional event in a Microsoft Store in Seattle, Wash. More details on the LTE Surface can be found here. Panay also said there won't be an Intel-based Surface Pro 2 with LTE; although, it's not entirely clear if that means there never will be an Intel-based Surface with LTE.

Microsoft is working on a Surface Mini with a screen size somewhere between 7 and 8 inches and, according to my sources, it will launch in the spring of 2014. The Surface Mini will be ARM-based from what I've heard from my contacts. (Qualcomm is the expected processor, rather than the NVIDIA chip that powers the ARM-based Surface 2.)

I'm wondering whether the Surface Mini will be LTE-enabled or Wi-Fi only. No word on that (so far) from my sources.

Speaking of Surfaces, Microsoft showed off some interesting enteprise Surface peripherals in a new video, as noted by Neowin, including some point-of-sale attachments and a charging cart for multiple Surfaces.

This story originally appeared as "Microsoft's Surface 2 with LTE to debut on AT&T, Vodafone" on ZDNet.