“Microsoft Corp. needs to shed its image as the world’s biggest purveyor of workplace software and draw on its success selling the Xbox gaming console if it wants a shot at introducing a tablet to challenge Apple Inc.’s iPad,” Aaron Ricadela, Dina Bass and Cliff Edwards report for Bloomberg.
“Microsoft is expected to preview a company-branded tablet at an event in Los Angeles today, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public,” Ricadela, Bass and Edwards report. “The devices may run Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 8, and different versions may be powered by either processors based on designs from ARM Holdings Plc or x86 chips from Intel Corp., the people said.”
Ricadela, Bass and Edwards report, “As the primary pitchman for its own tablets, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft needs to assemble a compelling lineup of applications at an attractive price, which may be tough given the least expensive current iPad sells for $499. That’s been impossible for challengers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Research In Motion Ltd. that have tried to compete with Apple in the tablet market, estimated to reach $78.7 billion this year.”
“Even as companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. release new tablets running Google Inc.’s Android operating system, Apple’s iPad continues to dominate the market,” Ricadela, Bass and Edwards report. “IDC predicts the iPad will account for 62.5 percent of global shipments this year, up from 58.2 percent last year. Apple’s share could rise even further if it introduces a smaller, less expensive tablet… Tablets based on Microsoft’s Windows operating system have struggled since their initial release in 2002. The company’s current market share? Zero, according to Gartner.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft Corp. needs to shed its image as the world’s biggest purveyor of regurgitated Apple Inc. ideas reconstituted into upside-down and backwards half-assery. There, fixed that first sentence for you.
Looks like Dell is betting the farm on metrosexual UI by ramping up tablet production. Hate to be the one holding the can when the mountains of unsold Dell failware product really starts piling up.