Microsoft's Surface Touch Cover Trouble
The critically acclaimed Touch Cover on the Microsoft Surface RT has a problem.
The Touch Cover is the thin cover that attaches magnetically to the Surface and can be used to protect the screen or, when folded out, as a keyboard. In black, it's a $100 upgrade to the Surface's $499 base price; other colors cost $120.
Over the last few days, several tech industry sites have been reporting problems with the cover coming apart near the point where it attaches magnetically to the Surface itself.
Here's one such complaint from a Microsoft Surface support site.
"My colleague and I both have a black touch cover (UK), we both have the same issue - in the centre where the touch cover is connected to the long black plastic bracket which houses the 6 pins which contact to the surface, the canvas of the touch cover appears to have come away from the plastic on my colleague[']s so much that you can see inside the touch cover. The length of the area that appears to have come away is about 15mm. While this doesn't appear normal I wanted to check if others were having the same issue? It seems strange that it has happened to two devices which are used independently."
The Guardian has a few photos of what the damage looks like here.
Microsoft appears to be responding appropriately by sending out new Touch Covers quickly to affected users or replacing them in Microsoft Stores without any hassle, but the issue does detract from the company's rather successful early narrative that the Surface is a marvel of industrial design and quality. At this point, Microsoft's official line is that the problem with the two-week-old hardware is very uncommon.
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Posted by Scott Bekker on November 12, 2012