14 DAY TRIAL // There are many PC and laptop case makers in the world, especially in Taiwan and China, but Microsoft somehow managed to scare all of them away, or very nearly.
By now, users will know that Microsoft will enter the hardware market when it finally launches the Windows 8 operating system. Since its OS will support both x86 and ARM processor architectures, the company will introduce the Surface tablet.
Unfortunately, the design of the product is proving to be troublesome. So troublesome, in fact, that most case makers refused Microsoft's overtures.
Currently, the software developer has a contract with a company from China, but it is only a so-called “second-tier maker”, according to Digitimes.
More to the point, it cannot make as many unibody magnesium-aluminum cases as Microsoft wants, and definitely not as fast.
As such, the corporation is supposedly paying very close attention to the manufacturing process, for all the good it will do.
Originally, the goal was to have five million Surface tablets made by the end of the year (2012). This ambitious goal played a great part in chasing away the other potential manufacturers.
As it stands, Microsoft doesn't have the expertise, resources and manpower to make that possibility happen. The next month or two will no doubt determine what becomes of the whole affair.
For those that don't know yet, the Surface will come in two iterations. The one for Windows RT will employ an NVIDIA Tegra 3 SoC, while the Windows 8 one (Surface for Windows 8 Pro) will rely on an Intel low-power Ivy Bridge CPU.
In that order, the price tags will hover around the $599 and $899 marks (€487.58 and €731.78).
Surface did not sit well with most OEMs. Acer wasn't quite blunt, but it did say Microsoft should stick to software and leave the hardware side of things to those already neck-deep in that market.