This is all great news!
I was expecting a new RT device this year but a Pro device only in early 2014 (i.e., one year after for each). This is really fantastic!
To all those naysayers and doubting Thomases about MS releasing a Surface Pro 2, I'm happy to see you have to eat your own words (at least for now, anyway)! I will readily concede that the Surface line is not (yet) a runaway success; however, in its first year, it equally has not been a runaway failure, either--disappointment to some, perhaps, but definitely not a colossal failure such that it does not warrant a second line.
Historically, I have never been one to depend on battery power. That is, 99.9% of the time, I was always plugged in, so 1-hour battery life vs. 10-hour battery life didn't really matter to me. However, earlier this year I got the DirecTV GenieGO and now I am watching content while I travel across the country. Sometimes I am on aircraft that have power outlets, so I'm covered, but most of the times I am not, so now battery life is important to me.
As such, I am looking forward to a Surface Pro 2 product that will have longer battery life, be slimmer, and provide some sort of native docking capabilities so that the number of USB3-connected devices for which bandwidth is shared on my USB "hub", is kept to a minimum.