What Happened to the Surface Mini Well, that was disappointing. Microsoft�s heavily-rumored mini-tablet (link) was a no-show at the Surface event this week. If this had been an Apple announcement, I�d just say the Internet got carried away with itself. But the source of the rumors was the very reliable Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet (link), who�s almost a house organ for Microsoft official leaks. So what happened? It�s possible that Microsoft leaked the rumors deliberately in order to smoke out Foley�s sources, but I don�t think Microsoft would have put Qualcomm in the story if that were the case. Most likely the product was real, and the announcement was canceled just recently. Bloomberg says Microsoft execs Stephen Elop and Satya Nadella lost confidence in the product and decided to pull it at the last minute (link). That would be a typical move for a new management team � you always look to kill a few of your predecessor�s projects to put your own stamp on the organization. The reasoning th...