Being an Apple guy for the past several years here is my opinion and here is what I hear over and over again...
Is this the iPhone/iPad killer? And it never is! When somebody wants a tissue they ask for a Klennix and it's the same with a tablet as tablets are known as iPads, period!
Now Asus came out with the Transformer Prime and the specs blow the iPad 2 specs away however between Asus/Android/ICS it never fully happened consistently as there have been hardware/software issues out the kazoo!
Now here comes the Microsoft Surface with tons of potential but remember that potential is a curse word as potential is something that hasn't been reached yet and may never be reached. In fact we usually say it in a negative sense such as, "he/she had so much potential!" So my point is this, if the Surface comes out fairly competative in price, with pretty solid hardware across the board, and with a fluid Windows 8 operating system and some decent apps to get people's attention, then yes Microsoft can do it!
But will they or will they come up short like every other Tom, Dick, and Harry!