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Apple isn't the only competitor MS needs to worry about in tablet computers.
By the time MS gets around to releasing a tablet both Google and HP will have released a wide range of tablets running Android and WebOS respectively.
Thus Microsoft will be coming in as the fourth tablet OS provider. And will be coming in behind some serious competition at that.
Apple has an advantage with its tight integration and control of both the software and the hardware. Google has an advantage with the price (free is hard to compete with) and has an early advantage with programs if it can leverage the apps from the phone market to the tablet like Apple did for the iPad. HP has its own ties to hardware manufacturing and has strong ties to the business community, not to mention a very strong international sales force.
Microsoft is going to have to do some serious innovation here or they are going to find themselves left in the dust once again. They really don't seem to have a lot to offer except Office, that the others don't have a ready answer for.
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