Microsoft Surface Pro poses no threat to Dell, claims VP

Dell welcomes the forthcoming UK launch of the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet, as the firm believes it will attract businesses and consumers to the Windows 8 ecosystem.

Neil Hand, global vice president of the personal computing product group at Dell, told IT Pro the PC maker is confident that its Dell Latitude 10 tablet is better suited for use in the business world.

He claimed the Dell tablet offers enterprise-friendly features, such as a 10 hour removable battery, along with an array of ports and a robust design.

"Microsoft adding Surface and Surface Pro products to the market place is going to help visibility and adoption [of Windows 8 devices]," he said.

"[But] Microsoft is no more or less competitive to me than Apple, HP or Lenovo. Dell has enough breadth and end-to-end capability that we can take on any single one of those competitors and win against them. You just look at the Surface Pro in daily use [vs the Latitude 10]. It's four hour battery life versus 10 hours."

Despite Dell being confident in the features of its Latitude 10 tablet, which was launched four months ago, no sales figures for the device have been revealed.

The Surface Pro, meanwhile, does not have a UK release date, but industry watchers feel that Microsoft's device could be dead-on-arrival because it is likely to have a high price tag, and interest in it has already reportedly started to peter out.

Android has been scrapped

Meanwhile, Dell re-iterated that it has no plans to re-enter the mobile space, despite rivals such as HP gearing up to make another attempt.

Dell was one of the first firms to launch a phablet in 2010 in the form of the Dell Streak, which was running Android.

However, the device failed to take off and has since been discontinued. The firm has no plans to launch any mobile products or to use Google's mobile OS.

"We have no plans to have phone devices with the Dell brand on," he added.

"Our data protection capabilities extend into the iPhones and Android devices. We are focused on managing and securing the corporate and personal data [on] devices."

Updated: Hardware giant Dell shed some further light today on why it's not fazed by the prospect of the Surface Pro eating into its sales by announcing the release of its Latitude 10 Enhanced Security tablet.

The launch of the product was reported by IT Pro earlier today, which is aimed at users in the healthcare, finance and governmental vertical markets who have to adhere to strict compliance standards.

The product's key features include a 10in display, Intel Atom dual-core processor as well as built-in smartcard and fingerprint reader and a touted 20 hour battery life.