Microsoft Fuels Surface Mini Speculation With 'Small' Event Invites

In what looks like a formal announcement of the 'mini' version of the Surface tablet, Microsoft recently sent invites to a closed group of technology journalists for its Surface tablet line on May 20 in New York City.

The text of the invite reads "Join us for a small gathering," which could very well be Microsoft hinting at the announcement of the rumoured Surface Mini device.

We had recently reported about how an accessory manufacturer named Vostrostone (VSTN) had listed its smart cover and Bluetooth keyboard for an alleged Surface Mini 8-inch tablet on Amazon.

The listings for both the accessories are still live at the time of writing this article. Vostrostone claims on the website that both the accessories will be in stock from May 18, in-line with the invitation date. The tablet is expected to run on the ARM architecture with Windows RT.

Microsoft is also gearing up to release Windows 8.1 later this week. We had also reported earlier that a series of tweets indicated that the Surface 3 tablet might be available by the end of this year, and might be powered by the newly introduced chipset, the Nvidia Tegra K1.

The Surface Mini could help the company gain some leverage in the tablet market considering the sluggish sales of the Surface Pro 2 and the Surface 2, and the popularity of 7-inch and 8-inch Android-powered tablets and Apple's iPad mini.