14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft let the Tablet PC market slip through its fingers years before Apple’s iPad hit store shelves. And now, years after the iPad was introduced, the Redmond company and its OEM partners have yet to introduce a valid Windows-based rival, despite the fact that some Windows 7 slates are indeed available.
But the way I see it, Windows 8 next-generation form factors can still rain on Apple’s iPad parade.
The CUPERTINO-based hardware company sold 7.33 million iPads during the first quarter of fiscal year 2011. The number dropped to just 4.69 million in Q2, only to come up again in Q3 when some 9.25 million iPads were shipped to customers.
Meanwhile, the Redmond company continues to sell hundreds of millions PCs, but only a fraction of those are Tablet PCs.
Still, just looking at the iPad sales for the last three quarters of FY2011 it should be clear that this device is not unbeatable.
I’m not saying that it will be easy for the software giant to keep the aura surrounding the iPad, especially since the form factor has already convinced so many users to embrace it, and is already half-sold to consumers wanting a slate, if only because of the perception that all rival devices are lacking by comparison at least in some aspect.
But although some are rushing to count Microsoft out of the game, I’d hesitate to join such a crowd. Still, to go against Apple, it will take innovative hardware and a revolutionary operating system.
I take what little Microsoft has shown of Windows 8 thus far as a promise of a revolutionary platform, especially on upcoming form factors. It’s still up to the OEMs to match the iPad in all aspects but software.
Whether Windows XP Tablet PC edition was ahead of its time, or simply bundled with the wrong hardware are both explanations of its monumental, BOB-like failure.
Provided that Microsoft has learned its lessons from the short life of Windows XP Tablet PC edition and from the success of the iPad, I’m willing to bet Windows 8 slates will have a fighting chance.