RUMOR: Dell, HP aim Windows 8 tablet releases for summer 2012

“PC builders involving Dell and HP are focusing their energies on Windows 8 tablets for next summer, early rumors claimed Monday,” Electronista reports.

“While shy on what those models would involve, DigiTimes understood that at least Dell was trying to shift its attention to pro tablets and away from the home,” Electronista reports. “They wanted to get out from under ‘fierce competition’ in the Android space, where the Amazon Kindle Fire has triggered a race to the bottom in a crowded field, according to the tips.”

Electronista reports, “Both Dell and HP would have incentives to move to Windows 8 tablets. Its Android-based Streak tablets have never had more than a small portion of the market and have usually competed more on price owing to their low-end features. HP, meanwhile, has exited mobile OS hardware and may see Windows 8 as a way back into home-focused tablets without developing its own OS.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: iPad 3.

26 Comments

  1. Start discounting now…. And announce discontinuing product in afew months…. That way they will save Aton of money by not Having to actually do anything…. Result will be the same….

  2. “HP, meanwhile, has exited mobile OS hardware and may see Windows 8 as a way back into home-focused tablets without developing its own OS.”

    Uh, HP already has its own OS called webOS.

  3. These Dell and HP offerings seem so derivative and incremental. Would like to see something more groundbreaking. Since MS was way out in front of everyone with the Big Ass Table, why don’t they take that design, saw the legs off, squirt in Windows 8, and market it as the Really Big Ass Tablet.

  4. I find it unutterably pathetic than people want to quibble about or base a purchase decision on + or – $100 when it’s for a central business and/or entertainment device. What short-sighted idiocy!

  5. By Summer 2012 iPad 3 will already have established its own predominance in the market. (And I’ll have one of my very own.) Dell and HP will be fighting for the market’s table scraps.

  6. Just announced: all Windows 8 tablets will go on sale early next summer for $129.99. Vendors vow not to lower prices to $99.00 for at least two weeks after release. (Unless sales fail to reach 1000 by that time; at which time they will try to decide if they can blame Microsoft and force them to buy them.)

  7. The only chance these guys have is with the enterprise IT drones. As long as CIO’s manage to sustain their death grip on IT purchases (and make no mistake, the grip is slipping, with renegate iOS devices wedging themselves in), they will, by God, continue to purchase Microsoft, because (to paraphrase old saying), “Nobody gets fired for buying Microsoft”. The main question is, once these devices get into the enterprise, will anyone actually ever use them, of will people still prefer spending their own cash and bringing their own iOS devices in? Smart money is on the latter. While I have no doubt that the launch will be greeted enthusiastically by the above-mentioned drones, it will likely be short-lived.

  8. Once the price difference becomes greater (i.e. once those new Windows tablets begin competing with the $200 Android ones from Asus, ViewSonic, Archos, Prestigio, FlyTouch, WayTeq (and all those other “premium” brands), they will become very popular in the developing world (i.e. the places where engineers work for $400 a month). Good luck to Google making any money on ad impressions coming from those countries…

  9. What I’m really hoping for is a 10″ zune. Ideally a big brown warm plastic slab running McAfee metro edition. A dedicated squirt button control with realistic sound effect would a super nice addition.

    You could sit on it during winter commutes – warm your butt while sending files using a buttock clenching gesture. I’d imagine it would be very entertaining for your fellow travellers.

  10. HP seems incapable of making up its mind… clueless and lost. Apple’s Mac will be exceeding Dell in U.S. “PC” market share by this time next year.

    Windows 8 is almost irrelevant. Yes, it will come pre-installed on non-Apple PCs, so it will be “popular,” by default, with existing Windows users who upgrade their desktop and laptop hardware. But in tablets, there is no existing Windows momentum. The popular AND “default” consumer choice is iPad.

  11. A survey done by Microsoft recently showed that 37.5% of Windows PC owners would buy a Windows tablet instead of an iPad if it was cheaper than an iPad and ran the Windows Office suite without a mouse or hardware keyboard.

    They were told not to hold their breath.

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