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Originally Posted by jswinden
Probably too little and too late. By the end of the year Windows 8 tablets will be hitting the market and ultimately they will be the winners. Corporate USA will be more likely to adopt them because of familiarity with Windows, and the fact that more can be done with them. Windows has been around a long time so finding applications people are used to is no problem. If any tablet family has a realistic chance of becoming the de facto workhorse of corporate USA and of professionals, it will be the Windows 8 family. Apple seems unlikely to ever put their full blown Mac OS on the iPads and Android seems unlikely to ever grow up and be truly usable on a large scale. It will probably take a few years, but eventually Windows tablets will rule the marketplace. They will have a far superior OS more like what computer users are used to and expect. They will have more truly usable software available. They will have way more connectivity capabilities with computers, networks, and peripheral devices, and perhaps the biggest reason is they will have plenty of familial competition. That is, competition from various manufacturers within the same OS family of devices. Only Apple makes devices which run iOS, so no familial competition and thus lackluster updates over a period of several years will mean that in a few years they will be way behind the competition. Android is never going to be a serious competitor as it is too complicated, too Google centric, and worse of all open source. Open source is design by committee, which means too many compromises, to little design coordination, too little vision and imagination. Eventually Android will die the same death as PalmOS--it will simply fade away as far as tablets go....
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All interesting theories. To my mind the tablet market is very similar to the Phone market. Apple got there first, Android followed and Microsoft came in late with a Windows branded product. We have all seen how that has worked out, and it doesn't seem to mesh with your theories. IOS is a few years old and is still close to the leading edge despite what you think must have been "lackluster updates" and despite the familiarity of Windows branding, Microsoft's efforts in the phone market have met with minimal success while IOS adoption in the corporate world continues to grow significantly.
The only way Microsoft will gain traction in the Tablet marketplace is by buying marketshare, which there seem to be rumors suggesting they are prepared to do. If they bring their tablet to market at a $199 price point, or less, they might stand a chance. I suspect this is the reason they have taken the plunge into branding and marketing the tablet themselves, they can afford to lose money chasing market share in a way their traditional marketing partners can not do.
Competition and choice in a free market are good and bring better products fro everyone. Microsoft has some interesting ideas, and they may win but only if they have learned from their many past marketing failures.