Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Surface Knockoff Already Surfacing?

The Surface tablet hasn’t reached the market yet, but already Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) may be a victim of a Chinese knockoff, which has been pretty common in the emerging market as it has a history of replicating popular name-brand electronic devices and putting them on the market for very low prices. Apparently some pictures are circulating that a Chinese company, FView, is about to copycat the Surface – with a couple twists.

Microsoft Corporation is due to release its Surface tablet into the marketplace by late October, but there are indications that a Surface lookalike from FView may get to market before then. While the Surface is expected to offer a 10.6-inch display and either Windows 8 or RT operating system, the FView “Windows Pad” (which was apparently revealed in promotional material at a tech show in Berlin recently) is expected to offer a low-resolution 13.3-inch screen and may boot both Windows 8 and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG). How much the knockoff may cost is hard to tell, as the Surface tablet by Microsoft Corporation has been rumored to retail for as little as $200 (the actual price has not been released).

While Chinese companies have been regularly known for producing and selling cheap imitations of popular items and electronic devices, it seems a bit unusual to promote a copycat of an item that hasn’t actually reached the market yet. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then maybe Microsoft Corporation has something on its hands when the Surface actually do4es hit the market as a competitor to the iPad from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), the Kindle Fire by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and the Nexus 7 from Google Inc., among others in the tablet realm. Of course, Microsoft will need robust sales more than flattery to satisfy investors like hedge-fund manager Seth Klarman of Baupost Group, who had $214 million invested in Microsoft stock at the end of June.