Things really aren’t looking good Microsoft as the company tries to compete in the tablet market. A new report says they won’t have a tablet operating system ready until mid-2012.
[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]Testing of Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, which is said to be more touch friendly for tablets, will not start until the end of 2011, according to Bloomberg. That would put the OS in the hands of tablet manufacturers sometime in the back-to-school shopping season of 2012.
The news clearly shows how much Microsoft was unprepared for Apple’s release of the iPad and iOS. If Microsoft had any inkling of where the market was going, they surely would have been ready before now with a tablet operating system.
Microsoft’s news comes just a couple of days after Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the second generation iPad in San Francisco. This is Apple’s second major tablet release before most companies even have their first tablet out the door.
At this rate, Microsoft will surely be competing against the iPad 3 or even worse. Apple could be on the verge of the iPad 4 before Microsoft gets its operating system out the door.
The news for other competitors wasn’t good this week either. RIM on Friday said its chief marketing officer, Keith Pardy, was leaving the company just weeks before the PlayBook was due to be released.
I can’t imagine they’ll have a real competitor in 2012 either.
Life can be tough for a reverse-engineer without an imagination to invent for themselves… Cry a tear.
But… Ballmer said they’re all PCs. Shouldn’t they already know how to do this?
No wonder so many people are encouraged to hate Apple. As though they’re the only kid in the class who did the reading and homework for the day. Because they are.
Meanwhile, the Windows Phone team is waiting for a phone call that will never come.
And who knows *what* RIM will have announced by then!
I’m enjoying the thought of someone at Microsoft with that as his job title: “Reverse Engineer”.
Is it weird that I feel sorry for Microsoft? I mean, just consider the resources at their disposal and the examples from competitors they have to copy. Kind of sad.
Bankruptcy?
RIM, Android, Apple. by 2012 the war could be over. The market so flooded by these folks that Microsoft would be lucky to get half a percent.
Frankly they should give up and refocus on other areas.
RIM will announce a minimum of six more iPad-like devices…
…and they’ll still be trying to ship their first Praybook.
If Apple would release another version of the ipad in the fall (ipad pro) with huge specs, it would completely bury the competition.
One of Apple’s best strategies is their convergence process for all of their OSes. If Microsoft is really serious about creating an iPad competitor, they should be willing to focus all of their energy on improving the Windows Phone 7 OS.
The problem with all these companies is they release devices that are “iPhone/iPad killers” and then give up support of them months later. Samsung Instinct anyone?
Why should they bother? They’re a software company. If MS was smart, they’d make a version of Office for iPad.
That would be suicide. Office is what keeps Windows alive. To port Office to iPad would kill whatever chance MS has in the “post-pc” space.
Office is MS’s secret weapon. That’s why even though they’re behind they still have a big chance of catching up because of Office.
Having said that, I agree MS should make a version of Office for iPad. It comes down to politics.
Ballmer will approve, only if they have a touch-equivalent for Control+Alt+Delete.
I will bet you that there’s a manager at Microsoft who’s trying to pitch the idea of selling Office for iPad as another way to make buckets of cash off Apple users, the same way Office for Mac does.
You mean a dedicated hardware button for Control+Alt+Delete?
Your post is a bit… overblown. Office doesn’t keep Windows alive, the Windows platform keeps Windows alive, with Office being a small part of it.
lmao
thanks
I think Apple has demonstrated that you can enter a mature market and turn things upside down. The problem is, you need to do so with an innovative product that leaves the competition scrambling to catch up. The iPhone would be an example of this. The problem for Microsoft is that being late to the game with an also ran product isn’t going to do much for you. Especially if your tablets have to cost much more money because they need extra hardware to run a bloated OS and software not designed for tablets.