Apple and Microsoft have always been in competition. That rivalry has now extended to the companies competing for tablet consumers/

Microsoft throws the first volley with vice-president of communications, Frank Shaw, posting a message to the Redmond company's official blog.

He referenced Apple's announcement on Tuesday that iWork and iLife will now come free with the purchase of every Mac or iOS device.
Since iWork has never gotten much traction, and was already priced like an afterthought, it’s hardly that surprising or significant a move. And it doesn’t change the fact that it’s much harder to get work done on a device that lacks precision input and a desktop for true side-by-side multitasking.
So according to Shaw, the Surface is superior to Apple's iPad, and he hits on points from price to hardware and software.

Saving his best barb for last, Shaw wrote, “When I see Apple drop the price of their struggling, lightweight productivity apps, I don’t see a shot across our bow, I see an attempt to play catch up.”

Will we see more war of words from the two companies? [Image: Flickr, mbiebusch]