RSSWhat is Microsoft's strategy for slates and tablets, exactly?
By Tim Conneally | Published July 30, 2010, 1:46 PM
Thursday, at the annual Microsoft Financial Analyst meeting, CEO Steve Ballmer gave a somewhat baffling explanation about Microsoft's position on tablet/slate computing that seems to run contradictory to the strategy of one of the company's biggest manufacturing partners.
Though Microsoft is focusing this year on Kinect, Bing, and Office as areas of consumer growth, the biggest consumer product for Microsoft, beyond all others combined, is Windows.
"Windows and Windows' success is a tide that floats all boats, so to speak," Ballmer said in the meeting Thursday. "Of those 400-odd million PCs that'll get sold in the next year, over two-thirds of them will get sold to the consumer. So, our biggest consumer product, no question, actually is the consumer Windows PC."
Ballmer said Windows has close to a 93% market share for all laptop computers, and the share is still growing. But there is competition coming in the form of the tablet computer running a non-Windows operating system.
"We've had Windows 7 on tablets and slate machines now for a number of years, and Apple has done an interesting job of putting together a synthesis and putting a product out, and in which they've -- they sold certainly more than I'd like them to sell, let me just be clear about that," Ballmer said. "We think about that. We think about that in competitive sense. And for us, then, the job is to say, 'Okay, we have a lot of IP, we have a lot of good software in this area, we've done a lot of work on ink and touch and everything else -- we have got to make things happen.' Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we've got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates."
"We're working with our hardware partners, we're tuning Windows 7 to new slate hardware designs that they're bringing them to market," Ballmer said, emphasizing the impact Intel's Oak Trail processor will have on slate development when it arrives next year.
So non-Windows tablets are threatening to make a dent in Microsoft's consumer dominance, and to cover that portion of the market, it is working on consumer Windows Slate products.
Compare this to a statement from Todd Bradley of HP's Personal systems group at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference:
"I think you'll see us with a family of Slate products, clearly a Microsoft product in the enterprise, and a WebOS product broadly deployed," Bradley said.
HP was the biggest Slate partner Ballmer mentioned in his CES 2010 keynote last January (the other two were Pegatron and Archos,) but the company's support for Windows Slate has come into question since it moved to acquire Palm and its mobile device business in April 2010. If the company is creating Windows 7 slates for the enterprise sector and WebOS for consumers, it is actually going completely against what Microsoft says it needs.
Toshiba's compelling dual-screen "Libretto" tablet is expected to be available in August, and it runs Windows 7 Home Premium, but Toshiba has said it will only be available in limited supply and it is more a concept device than mass market tablet competitor.
So there are Windows 7 slates on the way very soon...but they're not meant to cover the market populated by the iPad or rumored-to-be-pending Android-based devices from Asus, Samsung, Lenovo, and Acer.
At the end of his discussion Thursday, Goldman Sachs analyst Sarah Friar asked Ballmer to be absolutely clear about what version of Windows the Slates will get.
Here is Ballmer's response in full:
"We're coming full guns. The operating system is called Windows. No...there's... let me be unambiguous. A new Windows Phone for screen sizes that, let me just say, are, you know, sort of bigger than three or four inches ...the answer is Windows Phone. We are in the game. We're all in the game today with Intel architecture machines. We've got improvements coming from Intel. We're driving forward. We're unambiguous about that. Now, where we'll go and what's going to matter --I said also in my remarks that in no way will we allow hardware to be the impediment. We will embrace what we need to embrace over time in terms of hardware evolution.""But you say to me, 'Are we going to see slate?' Yes. What processor are they going to have? They are going to have an Intel architecture processor at least in any foreseeable future. Are they going to run Windows? Yeah. Will it be tuned? Yes! And we are going to sell like crazy. We are going to market like crazy. We have devices that will run more applications, that have as much content, that have anything you want on the planet. And we have an ecosystem of developers that know how to write applications for that thing. Believe me, as I think everybody knows, you can buy two PCs for the price of one iPad -- two netbooks today for the price of one iPad. So, people are sitting there over-celebrating bomb costs and blah, blah, blah. We and Intel can get our job done, and know how to make money."
For an "unambiguous" statement, this still requires a bit of parsing:
1.) Slates are built on Intel's chips and will run some version of "Windows."
2.) There is also a version of Windows Phone for devices bigger than 4" on the way, but the devices that will utilize it are still unknown, and indeed Microsoft is not limiting itself to a processor type or instruction set with that OS. These do not appear to fall under the description of "Slate."
Ballmer then went on to say, "Let's not speculate, let's merely say when you get your Windows 7 machine, it will print. Let's just start with that. I mean some people actually like to print every now and then. Ours will print."
That part, at least, sounds like a strategy anybody can grasp.
Microsoft's strategy? sit back and see what Apple does, then copy them but make Microsoft's version so ugly that most people would cringe at the thought of being seen in public with one. Oh! and one more thing, fill it full of the most inconvenient copy protection on the face of the earth so those thieves er... um... customers won't pirate it. You know, every time you turn it on you have to reactivate and verify it on the Microsoft servers.
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|Man, you didn't even *try* to hide the "troll" in that one. It's gotta be one of the most unabashed troll posts I've seen in ages.
Nicely done, sir. Nicely done.
Sadly, you would have gotten full marks but for the fact that you did not predict this would be "The End of Microsoft™"?...better luck next time!
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|@ PC_TOOL Why is the truth trolling? That seems to be your answer for ANYTHING anti Microsoft posted on Betanews, but I can just see All the Microsoft executives in Redmond jumping up and down like monkeys in the board room pointing to the screen yelling TROLL, TROLL!! every time Steve Jobs or Google makes an announcement for a innovative product and says something about Microsoft. I think you would fit right in.
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|The truth? Name one *specific* "fact" you posted. Oh, right...you posted meaningless, non-specific rhetoric; full of vague statements of *opinion* and not one iota of specific, arguable detail.
The truth isn't general or vague. If you have a specific instance that supports your tired rhetoric, post it. Then I can agree or disagree. Until then...you're trolling.
..but you won't.
I mean, seriously...
"every time you turn it on you have to reactivate and verify it on the Microsoft servers."
How do you even argue something that stupid? You don't. Most ignore it. I point out how incredibly absurd the statement is. If you tried to post that the iPhone 4 was incapable of making a reliable phone call, I'd call BS on that too. But thankfully, your BS seems to be limited to MSFT.
"fill it full of the most inconvenient copy protection on the face of the earth"
God forbid you actually include the method of copy-protection you seem to think is "the most inconvenient on the face of the earth"...if you had, someone might have been able to prove you wrong.
"sit back and see what Apple does, then copy them"
...right...because Apple hasn't copied anyone...neither has Linux...or Google...(but it's only bad when MSFT does it...right?) And none of them *ever* copied MSFT...right? Because that would utterly destroy any credibility you might have had...Oh, wait...you didn't have any to begin with.
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|TROLL, TROLL!!
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|Indeed.
I can't help but notice ever since my first reply you haven't been able to come up with one single argument to support your original post, nor have you responded to the request for clarification.
Perhaps you can't? Instead, you apparently decided to run with the whole, "I'm 3 years old and found a new insult" routine? I say run with it. They always tell people to stick with what they're best at...
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|Lets see... Original Zune=ugly iPod ripoff.
We won't even go into the Windows Activation mess and what you have to go through is you upgrade hardware in your computer regularly.
So quit trolling PC_T
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|so....
Purely subjective opinion (many folks *love* the Metro UI) followed by what...something you heard about from other trolls on teh intarwebz?
I have upgraded my PC dozen's of times. Hell, I just swapped out a motherboard this weekend. That one didn't even require a phone call. The most I have *ever* had to do is call installation support. Took a whopping two and a half minutes to enter in the new code.
But you're totally not trolling. Sure.
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|Here is the secret weapon Steve Ballmer was counting on: ON ERROR RESUME NEXT.
Add this single line in the OS of the tablet and it will do everything or at least there will never be single runtime error. When there is no error, there is no problem. Competition crushed. End of story.
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|They have a strategy? For years microsoft have just been reacting to the markets. Look at their "new" products coming out ALL reactionary products
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|Right.
They've never done the phone thing before...
Or the tablet thing...
Have you been on this planet in the last decade at all???
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|PC_Tool: Before you insult others for not being on the right planet...
What is becoming popular is the multitouch interface. Phones. Pads. Slates. It's the multitouch that is making them popular.
Microsoft is late to the multitouch party. Late with multitouch phones. Late with multitouch slates (as opposed to the Tablet PC which is a different device, which never sold).
Three-and-a-half years later, Microsoft still has nothing on the market to answer the iPhone.
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|"which never sold"
If you have to lie, why even bother?
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|"It's a matter of user experience."
The changing of the UI is just part of the answer. The question to really ask is,what can the iPad do that I couldn't do before on PC? At the end of the day, the iPad is a device 'intentionally' limited for casual specific use. The minute you want to really multitask and do MORE with it, is when you start to realize the device's shortcomings.
You are also beholden and restricted by the app store and iOS, and whether or not the app passes Apple's discretion. You can't install and run multiple vendor's browsers or operating systems on iPad like on an x86 platform. You can't just pop a DVD in and start watching it, or transcode it to a movie file for viewing later. You can't just upgrade the hard drive or memory, which every year gets larger and cheaper. As years goes by, the ipad of 2010 will start to show it's age and the WOW factor will slowly fade, and eventually won't be supported by future upgrades. Whereas on an x86 platform, you can upgrade the entire OS, or run multiple OS to your heart's content and swap/upgrade parts to suit your needs.
Again I don't hate the iPad, I think it's a well intended device. But some people seem to think the future of computing is going from general purpose to specific purpose, via a casual device targeted to a target specific audience. Yes Apple will sell many millions more of them and good for Apple. It's that in my case (and I'm sure many others) after playing with it (and my kids playing with it), we find it very limiting to what it can do for us.
I'm not exactly sure Microsoft necessarily NEEDS a slate strategy, since they are making tons of money hand over fist for x86/netbooks/notebooks/slatePC.s
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|I agree in that special-purpose computing is not a revolution similar to the PC revoluiton. It provides very little added value, and will never take over.
What made the PC revolution so all-encompassing was the tremendous gains in productivity and wealth that it spearheaded - any small business consisting of a couple of people could create their whole bread-and-butter on a PC. The PCs are so universal, flexible, and democratic, that it allowed hundreds of unrelated industries to converge on the platform, and as the result, the growth, fueled by creativity took off. Only direct MS partners comprise a $600 billion dollar industry - the full extent of the PC-related impact on the economy is hard to measure. It could be many trillions of dollars since 1980.
The special-purpose intentionally crippled devices are nothing like the above. They exist mainly for the already espablished corporations to extend their market power - whether it's marketing content, or software services, or something else. The usability issues, such as underpowered hardware, small screen, awkward holding and typing, and portability that is worse than those of the already capable smartphones, will limit the form to only the most trivial computing tasks.
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|RollDatKernelMyBrotha and OneToOne are both missing the bigger trend of moving computing out of the end-user device and back into the network; in many cases even out of the building the user is in (or not in) way up into the network. Sure, we're used to having our data and the applications that process them very close to us, but ubiquitous reliable networking is changing that, more rapidly than I thought it would. This isn't a new concept, Bill Joy talked about it in the late 90s before he quit Sun. The idea isn't to store all of your data on the device, but rather to use it at a cache for the data you're working (or playing) with right now.
Desktop computers won't disappear for "knowledge workers", though they may sink further into the desktop. Other applications can (very happily) migrate away from desktops, think of medical workers keeping electronic patient charts up to date, or the car salesman rolling the numbers for the loan on your new flying car. There are thousands and thousands of applications out there that have been adapted to desktop (shudder) and laptop (slightly less shudder) computers, rather than the computer adapting to the application. Another that leaps immediately to mind is the laptop bolted into police cars, while the officers still write their tickets out in illegible long-hand on paper forms. There's a "pad" application if I ever saw one.
Not to mention watching "Runaway Jury" on your phone/pad while waiting in the jury pool room when called for jury duty, one of my favorite tiny acts of civil disobedience. I don't need it to hold my entire movie library, just the 1 or 2 I might watch in the next couple of days.
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|"Sure, we're used to having our data and the applications that process them very close to us, but ubiquitous reliable networking is changing that, more rapidly than I thought it would."
Dumb terminals is a dumb idea.
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|@ barnaclewes I don't necessarily disagree with you; In a sense that these iPad devices will make a big impact in computing, and for certain groups "can" replace traditional desktop tasks (especially those people that do specific or light tasks that are connected to servers/cloud/whatever.) It's that in a typical business environment the "centralized terminal" is not a good safety net. Once the server/mainframe goes down, everyone loses access to central data and stops work. Whereas today's desktop PC (Windows) can do offline network share cache, and access data (excel/word/whatever) as if it were still there. Then when the server is online again, seamlessly sync and update whatever file/s you worked on with the centrally stored data. The PC "freed" us from the mainframe server gods, who often would juggle server CPU utilization. The PC is in itself "it's own server", so all the data processing is done "in house". No need to depend or wait for cloud/server to do processing for it. That is why the PC perseveres because it is independent and interdependent.
Also don't forget, the PC platform is still evolving. You now have dual core netbooks, super ultralights, and upcoming x86 slates, UMPC's, new segments that are getting better/faster/smaller/cheaper. Gone are the days of large megaboxes (except for us power users heh) that used to take up a lot of desktop/lap space.
The future of computing won't necessarily be single mobile only or desktop only platform or single vendor only, there will be many platforms and paradigms and vendors.
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|Nice post?
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|Microsoft having a lot of hardware partners, is its strength and at the same time its weakness (in the the sense that Microsoft doesn't build its own hardware). HP is just one of them. Even if their strategy is not completely aligned with Microsoft's, there are others to fill in the gaps.
While I understand iphone's success, ipad's success still evades me. I beleive that if any other company besides Apple made the ipad, it would have failed miserably. Microsoft must be carefull there.
BTW, I am really happy with my Lenovo x200 tablet (with touch screen) running Win7. So its not like there aren't any windows tablets out there.They are more expensive, but you get a full OS.
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|I see Steve Balmer and this photo in whole year by month after month I think this photo of the year.
I always thinking what do with his hand? Trying to beat this little machine? Or what?
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|not boom !
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|@ Phat Esther : Very funny. Ballmer seems to be banging the unit, maybe to get the touch interface working :)
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|This heroic pose remember me one of the profi box king.
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|Everyone is shaking their heads in dismay at Microsoft's tablet PC "plans".
Ars Technica has a long article about why Microsoft's latest tablet PC idea is wrong.
http://arstechnica.com/m...doesnt-get-the-ipad.ars
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|So not having access to a system-tray on an iPad is somehow *worse* than having access to them, but being tiny on a Windows tablet (that you can actually use a keyboard/mouse with)??
Cute...
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|Apparently the writer of that article has not used windows 7 on a touch device.
I'd like to know what things the ipod can do that would not work well with windows 7 on a touch screen?
Browse the internet? Yes
Type? Yes - Amaingly well in fact from my limited testing
View videos - Yes
Play Music - Yes - With any app you want too
Read email? Yes
I'd like to know why that writer thinks it won't work.
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|It's not a matter of any functionality not working on a Windows 7 tablet PC.
It's a matter of user experience.
The iPad and Android slates are based on smartphone platforms that have been designed from the outset for the multitouch interface.
Using Ars Technica's description, tablet PC has "shoehorned" the multitouch interface onto an OS that was primarily designed to be interfaced with a mouse.
Some other reports say the Windows 7 tablet PC is just an interim OS. Another placeholder, as Microsoft eventually wants to use Windows Phone 7 for this purpose (aligning with what Apple, Google and HP are doing).
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|Having used it, the experience seems very good to me. I've been playing around with it on an old toshiba Portege Tablet and it works quite well. With all the added things you can do because it is windows, I'd take it over an ipad any day.
Everyone who is talking it down still has yet to give examples as to why the user experience will be any less. I just don't see it.
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|@itadvisor, it seems "It's a matter of user experience." is your new mantra
Well here's ours:
"It's a matter of POWER USER experience"
1.) no jailbreak needed to run whatever apps I want whenever I want and multitasking is easy
2.) I'm not beholden to some app store like repository, I can download any program (even up to date betas and alphas) from sourcefourge, betanews, filehippo, etc
3.) I can run ANY browser or multiple browsers I want anytime and add cutting edge extensions/addons to my browser AND to my OS.
4.) right click/context menus baby
5.) I can watch underground flash movies or surf flash porn anytime
6.) I can add emulators or dual boot for many things, BSD, Ubuntu, games/commodore/amiga/beos, even dualboot to OSX and run the ipad sdk emulator
7.) If the cloud is down, I can still do work
8.) My USB, HDMI and SD card slots are already built in hah!
9.) I can take my entire OS, remove some drivers, image it, and duplicate it or migrate to next year's new x86 hardware.
10.) I can use my PC as my personal home theatre, able to run flash/divx/h.265/.mkv directly to my LCD TV via VGA or HDMI
11.) I can increase my storage space anytime I want, switch to SSD if I want, or hybrid ssd/
12.) apps apps apps and more apps baby
13.) Did I mention advanced 3D gaming? Today's modern gaming laptop can run many 3D games
(Alienware M11x) for less than the cost of the best iPad model.
14.) skype, VPN to work, webcam, yahoo video, mp3rip/mp3gain, and all the esoteric cool stuff I want which has no equal on other computing platforms
15.) video editing, mp3 editing, dj creation software, dev tools
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|Zoom Out.
Now, what i wonder is Why MS has to "answer" or feel empty-handed about anything Apple does, or any other?
Why did they never participate from the media player buzz until they felt they had to answer to the iPod with the Zune? Why do they have to make a mobile phone interface that intends to be the "opposite" of the iPhone, as they said sometime? Why do they have their own iPad competitor?
You keep hearing that they want to "compete with the iPad" rather than "enter the slate market" or tackle Android. Even worse, the idiot Ballmer boils the matter highlighting the iPad sales instead of letting that pass as inadverted as possible.
Really, lately the only thing i hear is that it's only been other companies that have been guiding MS's by the nose rather than them moving by it's personal drive. Can't they choose what call to answer and what to dismiss?
To me, it looks like a terrible lack of leadership and objectives there.
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|I agree it's an unwise and unsustainable position to be in when you allow your competition to guide your every move. However, there are SOME realities that can not be overlooked, specifically, mobile computing. Beyond that stop gap mess called the netbook, Microsoft is lagging behind in a market clearly poised to dominate the future of computing. They COULD continue to do what they have for the last decade and maybe convince the up-until-now unimpressed public or they could branch out in a different direction. You are right, they don't have to... but I think their competitors have shown they should. Like it or not, the writing's on the wall.
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|Interesting it took the iPhone to show we don't just want a scaled down desktop. Kudos to Android and all the other competitors for driving innovation through competition. Still, the iPad and Android tablet are two sides the to the same coin, aren't they? While I want a nimble mobile OS, with compelling apps, superb internet/communications, and a wicked battery life, I'd also like some real choice. Coke or Pepsi isn't enough. Some of us just don't like cola. May Microsoft see the need and drive WP7 in a whole new direction. Differentiation could be the key to rejuvenating Microsoft's battered reputation on the innovation front.
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|I think MS is being squeezed out of the market here. Apple is dominating the high end. Usually MS would just subsidize (financed by their PC monopolies) a bunch of much lower cost alternatives and dominate on volume. But now they have Google that is using a combination of open source financed by their advertising monopoly. Hard for MS to be the low cost volume leader when they have to beat free. Also hard for them to beat Apple on design since they have to work with their hardware vendors and Windows heritage.
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|not boom !
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|I've been hoping for some type of slate/tablet/over-sized PDA that will work how I want for ~15 years now. All Microsoft has done in the past is give us tiny buttons on the screen and a stylus to poke at them with. The handwriting input was an afterthought. I want handwriting input. The most productive so far was the Newton 2000. I had to poke at tiny buttons on the screen, but I could write full speed with good recognition on the screen. Obviously without getting every software developer on the planet to start from scratch Microsoft couldn't make a complete tablet experience, but they could have fixed their own damn software. I'm giving Microsoft until 3rd quarter of 2011 to put out something usable before I give up for good and commit to Android.
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|Take a look at windows 7 on a tablet. The handwriting recognition seems very good.
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|boom
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|Can someone explain what are tablets and why they are important? Because all those people I know who got one from Apple - they just keep them in those neat leather cases, or on a stand like a picture frame.
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|My impression of the iPad, is that is a stupidly time absorbing device. The battery goes on forever, and it is so easy to cuddle up in bed with the thing watching videos, movies, browsing the internet, finding new apps, reading books, I don't know it just keeps on going for ever. You realise how absorbing it really is, when the sun starts filtering through the curtains... That would never happen sitting uncomfortably all night on a desktop.
When I am with friends I don't use it, because I would ignore my friends completely (and it would be a sad day when my friends don't talk to me because I prefer the tablet). In your case, perhaps your perception that people don't do anything with it is biased, because they are with you, and leave the device alone.
Why they are important? I think, it is because the way you can finally enjoy the internet at its full power. (It is weird!). And that goes both ways, for content providers, and users.
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|Get it right? I'm looking at a Tablet right in front of me and it has Windows 7 on it. Before it had windows XP. It works great. We have over 500 of them in the field for years now! They work great.
So for you newbee's to tablets YES apple invented them but they have been around for over 10 years now and working making healthcare professionals more productive!!
Like I say. the facts are hard to break away from 100M windows machines sold every year. Microsoft gets a small % of that sale but they still control 93% of the market.
Apple, Google and others control the media so the news is what way it is. Cloud computing will replace everything?? Right!! Cloud does down and data is changed your company or home life is F***ED.. Keep it local and OWN your data!!! or be p'0wnd!!
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|Specialized applications aren't the same as a mainstream consumer product. If you want to put enough effort into vertical software, it can almost do your job for you.
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|I'm excited to see what a Windows7 tablet can do. Probably a heck of a lot more than an iPad. Check this out: http://TechReview.LIEconomy.com
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|Their full strategy is obviously being kept close to the vest.
It's past strategy was the same as windows mobile... let OEMs release hardware using said software. Thing is right now that just doesn't work with ipad-like tablets.. .the single-tasking media consuming tablets which are basically a large iPod Touch or iPhone that can't make calls. Yawn. And ipad is the only successful mainstream tablet to date. Cue senseless knee-jerk discussion.
Right now mobile/phone is MORE IMPORTANT than tablet. Prior to that Windows7 was their highest priority. Both for obvious reasons. Win7 proved highly profitable with no end in sight too.
MS is correct that they quickly leapfrogged the netbook market (and with XP might i add). They sorta need hardware to catchup and a full Windows 7 tablet can leapfrog iPod Touch large tablets quite easily.
Likewise once Windows Phone 7 ships (will be RTM within several weeks) that can be used for "media consuming" tablets since its UI scales up nicely.
So in sort the sky-is-falling ms-hating bloggers just need to get a perspective.
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|I'm not sure Microsoft really has a proper strategy, to be honest. If they do its highly reactionary. There are clearly opposing camps within the company, a scenario which occasionally breeds innovation but more often merely weakens the structure. I'd say the next three years will decide whether Microsoft regains its momentum or begins a continuous, ever-accelerating decline along the lines of Novell. Ironically, its the fanaticism of Apple fans that's insuring Microsoft has a fighting chance in the consumer space. Steve Jobs has no reason to lower the price of his desktops and laptops because Mac fans will pay those exorbitant prices to stay in the clique. If Macs were, for example, only 15% more costly than PCs, Microsoft would be in a desperate struggle. The desktop is still the hub around which most end-user activity revolves. If Microsoft were to lose their virtual monopoly on the desktop they could easily lose the whole ballgame.
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|"If Macs were, for example, only 15% more costly than PCs, Microsoft would be in a desperate struggle."
And Apple would be in a desperate struggle too, without the margins.
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|This is a kick in the guts for Windows Phone 7.
Instead of using WP7 in its slate, Microsoft is going to use other forms of Windows, mainly the PC Windows 7, at least in the foreseeable future.
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|...so people can get work done? In a familiar interface?
For shame, MSFT!
Have you *seen* WP7? It is ugly as sin...and I do honestly think most people *would* like to print (or even cut and paste) from a slate.... from a phone, not such a big deal...
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|Yes, Windows 7 is a familiar interface.
Problem is, most people are familiar with using it with a mouse. That's what it was designed for.
Microsoft really needs a single OS for phone and slate, designed from the ground up for use with multitouch (rather than bolting multitouch on to a desktop OS)
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|Haven't used Windows 7 on an HP touchscreen, have you?
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|I'm pretty sure most people who think it won't work haven't used it on a touch screen. It definetely takes getting used to (especially when you have a keyboard right in front of you) but it works really well.
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|Cut and paste! Did the TARDIS drop you in the wrong year? You need to catch up with the times!
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|This new "tablet" or "pad" market looks interesting. I know it was tried before, but the market didn't seem right. Now, with new devices coming out, it may be the right time. The Kindle and other e-book readers are becomeing more main stream and coming down in price (the new one is hitting a good, low price point. I don't know about other people, but I want more than just an e-book reader.
The iPad looks great, but is a little higher than I am willing to pay for a locked device that doesn't have a full fleged OS. I've heard rumors about Google's Android or Chrome OS device, but not a lot. Blackberry has a new tablet, and now MS. The market is ripe, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Give me something I can dual boot and get into a shell, and I will be happy. :-)
/I have to admin, the geek in my wants a Star Trek like PAD.
//That Libretto from the other atricle reminds me to much of my son's DS. :-)
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|MS really needs to take its time here. Get the core of the system right. While slates are the hot thing, they aren't sticky yet. By this I mean that if a new company releases a new hot slate next year, people will drop their current device to get it.
Sure, MS is losing money by not having a slate today. But they are not losing much in the ecosystem. Apps are cheap, so they're not considered much of an investment, and data is in the cloud.
Take your time MS. Get it right. And get your services all lined up. That's your winning play. Don't listen to all of the people who have actually never built a multi-billion dollar company.
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|Microsoft is late to the party. The new market leaders are Apple and Google
Anyone wanting to buy a windows 7 slate before an iPad must have rushed out to buy a Zune or a KIN.
Remember that this is the company that also thought BOB was a good idea and pushed out Windows ME and Windows VISTA.
Sure you can buy one of these toys, but if you really want to use it go with the iPad!
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|Just because someone is late, doesn't mean they can never take over.
There just has to be a good reason. A full fledged PC in a slate (i.e. Windows 7 Slate) is a pretty good reason.
In comparing to the ipad, the big question is how many people who bought an ipad didn't already have an iphone or ipod touch? I'd bet most had one or the other, so Apple hasn't really gained any new customers. Just found a new way to get more money from them.
Microsoft just needs to do the same and fill the need for those not wanting an Apple device. Last I checked, there's still a very large group of people who do not own an ipad.
Score: 1
|"Microsoft is late to the party. The new market leaders are Apple and Google"
I *love* this "logic".
Of course, if there were actually any truth behind it, Firefox and Chrome would have been "late to the party"...
Score: 0
|It's really up to the hardware vendors at this point. Windows 7 on a touch screen works really well. If they can just have someone make the hardware, I think they will easily have an ipad competitor.
I know I'd but a windows 7 tablet/slate before I'd buy an ipad anyway. I'm actually hoping to get my hands on one of those librettos
Score: -2
|I think Windows *Phone* 7 makes more sense on a tablet than on a phone, honestly. It just doesn't look to me like it belongs on either a phone or a desktop. Also, the fact that in some ways its more limited than an iPhone (which is rather startling) means that getting it onto devices where the user expects more will force MS to update the functionality. As for Windows 7, it doesn't belong any anything except a bargain shelf.
Score: -1
|I disagree about windows 7. Vista belongs on the bargain shelf or in the trash bin, but Windows 7 is well worth it. Better then XP in my opinion.
Score: -2
|"As for Windows 7, it doesn't belong any anything except a bargain shelf."
*laughing*
Suuuuure. Best selling, reviewers raving, users loving it, but hey....psycros says it's crap. You know, there's a point where going against the grain just for the sake of going against the grain just makes one look stupid instead of original.... I think you've gone well beyond that point.
Score: -3
|wow.windows 7 beat harry potter 7 for the highest preorder sales and it is the fastest selling OS in the history,got rave reviews.and i ve been using it for around 4 months without any problem.
Score: -2
|boom
Score: -1
|