“Our PC partners knew in advance we were announcing something today in this space.”
This means that the hardware vendors already had knowledge of Microsoft’s plan.
Still they came up with a large variety of tablets, ultrabooks for Windows 8.
This is something very interesting because Microsoft is trying to compete with Apple’s iPad but on the same time it is creating a big problem for other Windows tablets out there in the market.
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Acer’s Windows 8 Tablet..What’s it future?[/caption]
When he (Mr. Ballmer) was asked how the vendors felt about their decision of entering the tablet market, he declined to comment but did add:
“Surface tablet gives people a full range of things to think about, sort of primes the pump for more innovation around Windows 8, (and) brings new technology to the Windows PC platform. If you look at the bulk of the 375 million machines that get sold (next year), they probably aren’t going to be Surfaces,” Ballmer said. “On the other hand, we could have a sizeable business.”Microsoft’s decision of entering the market is good for some whereas it is heartbreaking for others. While the Xbox was a great success, Microsoft is also expecting Surface to rock the market. Hardware vendors on the other hand have a very big dilemma ahead. To compete with the Surface tablet, they will have to come up with something very exciting and definitely better than Surface.
well i think this will sell big because of the success of the Xbox if they promise an Xbox remote like the Tablet P from Sony.
Not a bad assessment. Are OEMs happy, probably not, this adds a level of complication. The question they will ask themselves will be whether MS will give itself an unfair advantage. Stack the deck in its own favor instead of competing on quality. This is important because it shows that MS can separate the Software building and support for them from the hardware competition side. These vendors have worked with MS for a long time so they will likely know what to expect. HP and Dell are both political and hard to read in their comments. Asus, shows that they are looking at it from the right perpective. By knowing how to best use its own software, MS can be inspirational to the other vendors. MS can not tie up the complete PC market, it is just too huge for a single vendor and would end up being stifling to the consumer. I think this could give a real shot in the arm for the whole industry. Smart vendors will take advantage of this. Those that dont, will deserve the flailing they will recieve.