Microsoft unveiled a line of its own tablets to rival Apple's iPad at an exclusive event in Los Angeles.

The new tablet is built on the new Windows 8 operating system that is set to roll out this fall.

The Microsoft Surface Pro and RT tablets will be made in-house.

The new tablet features a 10.6-inch-wide display screen with Gorilla Glass, its own stand, a full USB port, dual Wi-Fi antennae, a multi -ouch keyboard and a trackpad.

The tablet is only about a half-inch thick. Models come with either 64 gigabytes or 128 GB of storage.

The Surface comes at a crucial moment for Microsoft. The Redmond, Wash., based company will debut its touch-friendly Windows 8, an operating system built around dynamic tiles that are supposed to work equally well on more traditional computers and tablets.

This is a new foray for Microsoft, and the company will have to compete with behemoth Apple, maker of the popular iPad. But there is room for Microsoft.

Researcher IDC expects that 221 million tablets will be hipped globally, and 61 percent of those will be sold by Apple.

The newest company to challenge Apple's iPad is software giant Microsoft, which is coming out with its own tablet computer. Ben Tracy reports on what Microsoft calls a whole new computing "surface."