Research firm IHS says Microsoft and Apple are garnering the highest profit margins for their tablets, followed to a lesser extent by Google and then Amazon,

Microsoft Corp.'s first self-made tablet, the Surface, costs about $267 in parts and labor when excluding its optional keyboard cover. It went on sale Oct. 26 priced at $499, for a profit margin of around 46 percent. Surface comes with a 10.6-inch screen measured diagonally, and can access the Internet only through Wi-Fi. The price is for its base model with 32 gigabytes of memory.

With a similar configuration, the Surface bakes in more profit for Microsoft than Apple Inc. did when it released its third-generation iPad in March.