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I got to play with Surface at Gnomedex this year. It's a fun platform. One of the fun things you could do it store PC stats on chits and have blow out menus for powers. It would allow you to use some of the onscreen menu options you see in computer games during your tactical combat. Might be fun.
There are other things as well... GMs could pass items to players virtually, automatically adding them to your inventory, etc.
All they need now is a Star Wars-like way to render 3D versions of your characters 'above' the Surface. :)
It looks nifty, but it begs the question: if you can create custom animations on it, roll dice using it, create and stat out characters on it, why in heaven's name are you still using miniatures?
Designing 3D minis and all their respective animations is a pretty labor-intensive process, especially when you're talking about the thousands of possible creatures that might be seen in a D&D game.
Now, granted, it might be entirely possible for a company like Wizards to produce "mini packs" of models and animations for monsters from certain supplements (Monster Manual 1 Digital Minis, etc.) that they could then charge customers for. This is similar to what was at one point being planned for the VTT anyway, I believe. I think it'd be much more feasible to simply use physical miniatures (or other size-appropriate objects) to note creature locations on the table. But I can certainly see the appeal of having your entire battlemat rendered in gorgeous color with 3D creatures running around using fully rendered powers.
Note that none of this really removes the need for a DM. Having someone adjudicating the game, presenting the adventure scenario, and handling non-combat interaction is something that is a very, very long way away from being suitably reproduced by a computer system. This demonstrated Surface technology simply illustrates a short-term solution that is probably very attractive to a lot of tabletop gamers, assuming the price can be made reasonable.