“Apple Inc., maker of the iconic iPad, was absent — as usual — from the Computex computer show this week, but despite that the company’s influence was everywhere,” Lorraine Luk, Aries Poon and Juro Osawa report for The Wall Street Journal.
“Showcasing this year at the show, one of the industry biggest annual trade gatherings, were tablets and personal computers powered by Microsoft Corp.’s (MSFT) next-generation Windows 8 operating system,” Luk, Poon and Osawa report. “Windows 8 is due for release later this year and considered in many ways the PC industry’s response to Apple, which upended the traditional market with its mold-breaking tablet iPad and software iOS.”
Luk, Poon and Osawa report, “While the Windows 8 software, optimized for touch-screen use, generated a fair amount of buzz, many analysts remain skeptical that the new operating system will help Microsoft and PC makers get ahead in rapidly evolving markets such as the one for tablets. ‘In the long term, the Microsoft camp has potential to grow, but in the short term, there is still so much momentum around Apple from consumers,’ said IDC analyst Bryan Ma.”
MacDailyNews Take: Let’s define “a fair amount of buzz” before we go on:
• Dvorak: Windows 8 an unmitigated disaster; unusable and annoying; it makes your teeth itch – June 3, 2012
• The Guardian: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is confusing as hell; an appalling user experience – March 5, 2012
• More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011
“Over the past few years Apple’s smartphones and tablets have changed the way people communicate, obtain information, work and play. Consumer dollars that could have been spent on upgrading PCs went instead on new, ever-smarter mobile gadgets. In the booming market of mobile computing, Apple has so far remained the trend-setter,” Luk, Poon and Osawa report. “Apart from the iPad, Apple has laid down a new challenge to its rivals with MacBook Air, a line of ultra-thin, ultra lightweight laptop computers that use flash memory chips instead of hard drives enabling them to power up almost instantly.”
Luk, Poon and Osawa report, “With improved interface, touch functions and a range of applications, ‘it appears Windows 8 brings the user experience on par with (Apple’s) iOS ecosystems,’ said Barclays Capital analyst Kirk Yang in a report after attending Computex.”
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, Kirk couldn’t analyze the differences between his ass and his elbow. We don’t know whether to iCal that comment or spread it on the garden.
Luk, Poon and Osawa report, “Still, some analysts said it remained unclear whether Windows 8 could pose an immediate threat to Apple… Some of the new Windows 8 devices offer interesting designs, said IDC’s Mr. Ma, but a key question is whether there will be enough good applications or ‘apps’ able to run on them to make them attractive… The key to the iPad’s success has been ‘its offering of a complete hardware-plus-content ecosystem,’ said Rhoda Alexander, director for monitors and tablets research at IHS. ‘Such an ecosystem took Apple years to put together, starting with the iPod plus iTunes Music Store more than nine years ago, and it’s proving to be a challenge for the company’s competitors to replicate it.'”
Read more in the full article here.