HP’s webOS death places the focus on Microsoft’s Windows 8 response

By Tom Warren, on 19th Aug 11 12:16 pm with 75 Comments

HP TouchPad

Following the death of HP’s TouchPad webOS devices and the lack of interest in RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook offering, Microsoft finds itself in a familiar position.

The software giant is preparing to unveil Windows 8 to the world in less than a month, an operating system that many hardware partners will rely on to shape a strong alternative to Apple’s iPad. HP announced on Thursday that it plans to discontinue its TouchPad and pre phones and halt all further webOS device development. The announcement came less than two months after the TouchPad went on sale and sees HP contemplating licensing webOS to third party vendors. HP’s extermination of its TouchPad was undeniably quick but hardly surprising. The device had struggled to sell and some reports suggest that American retail giant Best Buy took delivery of around 270,000 units and only sold around 25,000 of their stock.

So where does this leave HP and the PC industry as a whole? HP had grand plans to offer webOS on its PC devices, a scenario directed towards Microsoft independence. HP has seemingly scrapped this plan and appears to be on the brink of spinning off its Personal Systems Group (PSG). The group is responsible for consumer and business PCs and accessories along with digital entertainment devices. A sell off would follow a similar approach to IBM who sold its PC division to China-based Lenovo Group in late 2004. The sale would allow HP to focus on its cloud computing and server businesses. HP ships the largest amount of PCs worldwide so any potential sale of that business will drum up significant attention.

HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and countless others are all resting on the shoulders of Microsoft to provide a true iPad competitor OS that can span the breadth of conventional PCs and new form factors. HP’s announcements and RIM’s struggles will only heap the pressure on Redmond to respond. So far the software giant has teased its potential Windows 8 tablet interface but little else. Microsoft’s answers will need to be significant and ground breaking in their approach. Sixteen years ago, Microsoft changed the PC industry by unveiling Windows 95 to the world. On September 13 it plans to revolutionise the PC with a risky product bet. Microsoft will need the full backing of its loyal and skilled developer community to clean up a PC ecosystem that has spiralled out of control in many aspects. The company has all but confirmed the existence of a Windows App Store, the first step in many to standardise the purchasing, downloading and installation of third party applications. If Microsoft is able to take its Windows 7 touch work and apply this to modern form factors in a compelling way that is truly usable then its claims of a PC revolution will be legitimate and historic. If consumers balk at the prospect of Windows tablets then it could be an awkward period for PC shipments and vendor commitment. Only Microsoft and its closest partners know what’s on the menu, the rest of us can only contemplate its tastiness.

http://www.andrew-stockdale.co.uk Andrew Stockdale

Oh zing. Pressure really is on Microsoft! If HP were feeling really nice, they’d let Windows 8 run on the now useless Touchpads. They’ve got the hardware…
http://www.facebook.com/people/Pedro-Roque/100000194503830 Pedro Roque

September can’t get here soon enough!

http://www.facebook.com/mohit.sachdeva Mohit Sachdeva

Yeah dude….so much just waiting to happen…can’t wait!!!!
Guest

Sept is just a show and tell. MS and partners need the RTM, which won’t be here until mid next year earliest, but which time we’ll be on iPad 5 and Android 10.
Anonymous

why they are always Guest,I mean trolls, be a man and use your name when you are trolling.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Pedro-Roque/100000194503830 Pedro Roque

I was going to reply to you, but then realized you’re just a pathetic troll. Goodbye

http://twitter.com/PeterKremzar Peter Kremzar

My opinion is that at the end we will have Android and iOS. I really wish Windows Phone OS will be here too with at least 20% of the marketshare, but I’m currently I’m quite pessimistic about that. RIM will die for sure as webOS did.
http://twitter.com/PeterKremzar Peter Kremzar

My opinion is that at the end we will have Android and iOS. I really wish Windows Phone OS will be here too with at least 20% of the marketshare, but I’m currently I’m quite pessimistic about that. RIM will die for sure as webOS did.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Pedro-Roque/100000194503830 Pedro Roque

Can’t disagree more. I don’t know a single satisfied tablet owner. Most of them buy an Android tablet because they see the iPad as nothing more than a toy, but soon realize that they just bought a bad iPad.
Windows 8 can bridge that gap, and be something that we can use just like an iPad, and to do some real work, like a real PC.
Android on the phone, most people could care less about the OS. They bought the phone that the cellular company would sell them, and then complain how the battery sucks!
Anonymous

Couldn’t agree more, with the OS’s in general. There’s iOS, and the “alternative” which is Android. And the only person I know who likes android is my ex girlfriend who was coming from an LG dumbphone. Everyone else I know “likes it, but…”

Then there’s me with my WP7. It’s coming, and it’s coming in a big way.
Guest

The battle is no longer about OS’s. It’s about the entire ecosystem of apps, content, and accessories that the OS either supports or has attracted. The iOS ecosystem dominates. The Android one is becoming stronger daily. And meanwhile MS still hasn’t even released its OS or associated development environment. I expect it to leverage W32, so there will be a large ecosystem of older mostly non touch-centric apps there. But MS is now way behind.
Aaron

Agree 100%. After seeing my wife using her sisters iPad, I could tell she really wanted a device like that for easy internet browsing. Although it pained me, I was actually about to bite the bullet and get an iPad since the Android tablets are shockingly not as good and just as expensive. But then I saw the Windows 8 demonstration by Sinofsky. Their UI looks amazing and the prospect of having better than iPad touch UI for consumption, and a fully functional real OS for production when you need it, made me decide to wait it out for a W8 tablet. Microsoft, please pull this off!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Pedro-Roque/100000194503830 Pedro Roque

Can’t disagree more. I don’t know a single satisfied tablet owner. Most of them buy an Android tablet because they see the iPad as nothing more than a toy, but soon realize that they just bought a bad iPad.
Windows 8 can bridge that gap, and be something that we can use just like an iPad, and to do some real work, like a real PC.
Android on the phone, most people could care less about the OS. They bought the phone that the cellular company would sell them, and then complain how the battery sucks!

http://www.rwalrond.com RWalrond

HP got distracted trying to be like Apple. This confusion started right after Balmer showed the HP Slate. Remember the buzz that generated? Then the mainstream tech blogs started talking about how Windows 7 on a slate can’t compete once they saw the iPad.. HP then forgot that they make PC’s and decided they would respond to the iPad comparisons by creating an iPad clone… well duhh!!! They hung the HP slate out to dry because they knew it would’t sell like the iPad… News flash, nothing is selling like the iPad!! HP should have positioned the HP slate as the Home/Business alternative, instead they stuck it in a corner and said it was enterprise only and made it impossible to buy outside of the US.. again Duh!!

I continued to ask the question, What will HP do once Windows 8 arrives on new PC slates? Will they sell 2 tablets with 2 different OS’s? Wouldn’t that confuse consumers? Well I guess I got my answer!

Bye.. Bye.. Web/OS. Welcome back to reality HP.
http://www.rwalrond.com RWalrond

HP got distracted trying to be like Apple. This confusion started right after Balmer showed the HP Slate. Remember the buzz that generated? Then the mainstream tech blogs started talking about how Windows 7 on a slate can’t compete once they saw the iPad.. HP then forgot that they make PC’s and decided they would respond to the iPad comparisons by creating an iPad clone… well duhh!!! They hung the HP slate out to dry because they knew it would’t sell like the iPad… News flash, nothing is selling like the iPad!! HP should have positioned the HP slate as the Home/Business alternative, instead they stuck it in a corner and said it was enterprise only and made it impossible to buy outside of the US.. again Duh!!

I continued to ask the question, What will HP do once Windows 8 arrives on new PC slates? Will they sell 2 tablets with 2 different OS’s? Wouldn’t that confuse consumers? Well I guess I got my answer!

Bye.. Bye.. Web/OS. Welcome back to reality HP.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Pedro-Roque/100000194503830 Pedro Roque

1st rule of business microsoft needs to establish with their partners, in order to secure Windows 8 success:

NO MORE CRAPWARE

BucksterMcgee

With Windows Phone 7 Microsoft totally gets and does this already. Anything put on the phone can easily be removed, and they don’t have any impact on the system even if they are put there by OEMs/Carriers.

With the ARM version of Windows I imagine given it’s basically a fresh restart that it would be far easier to accomplish this, but since x86/x64 versions are still able to run legacy code, then crapware could possible still make it on there if they don’t actively prevent it.

Gah, BUILD can’t come soon enough!
BucksterMcgee

With Windows Phone 7 Microsoft totally gets and does this already. Anything put on the phone can easily be removed, and they don’t have any impact on the system even if they are put there by OEMs/Carriers.

With the ARM version of Windows I imagine given it’s basically a fresh restart that it would be far easier to accomplish this, but since x86/x64 versions are still able to run legacy code, then crapware could possible still make it on there if they don’t actively prevent it.

Gah, BUILD can’t come soon enough!
Guest

Here is an idea.
Microsoft should give us either a discount coupon/ecode for users that would like to buy a discounted Windows OS for a clean install without all the crapware.
Guest

on a new PC/Tablet purchased within 60 days.
Guest

They need to incent the OEMs not to do it or come up with a cloud alternative to this:

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

host it on Azure, and then promote it broadly to consumers (i.e. on MS’s home page, download page, Windows Live, etc.)
Guest

They need to incent the OEMs not to do it or come up with a cloud alternative to this:

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

host it on Azure, and then promote it broadly to consumers (i.e. on MS’s home page, download page, Windows Live, etc.)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Pedro-Roque/100000194503830 Pedro Roque

Or force the OEMs to include the original Windows 8 media with the PC.
Anonymous

MS is controlling Windows 8 on tablets/portable devices alot more than in the past. I fully expect uninstalling of apps from the new W8 app store to be just as easy as on WP7. Understand that ARM devices doesn’t allow backwards compat with legacy programs unless those programs are ported to ARM architecture…count on MS’s own programs making that trip day one, but 3rd party programs will trickle out. However, since legacy programs wont work on ARM devices, I see no reason for crapware to exist on these types of devices.
Tom

It’s not that simple. I would consider a lot of the OEM utilities to be craplets as well. And unfortunately, the OEMs are going to be porting those to ARM.

Why does HP replace Windows Photo Gallery with their own gallery program? Why does Lenovo have its own battery-management application? These are not drivers — they’re ego projects intended to splash their logo in front of users.

In my experience, at least half of the OEMware (and sometimes as much as 75%) does nothing for the user except to slow down his system.
Guest

They’re attempts to differentiate an otherwise difficult to distinguish product. I would agree that they generally don’t add much value and therefore fail. But I can understand their desire to at least try. Otherwise, you’re forced to compete solely on price, which is unfortunately what the PC industry has devolved into and why Apple is having such a easy time growing share.
Anonymous

Apple has been able to differentiate their hardware even though the underlying components are the same as any pc/laptop. They did it by building quality thin attractive cases. I don’t think the average consumer is buying Apple because of OSX. They buy it because it’s pretty and they heard they won’t get viruses. The truth is that W7 is just as secure. I haven’t found a single virus or malware since I got W7 even though I visit torrent sites. With XP, I was receiving virus warnings all the time. Time for MS to promote the security of their OS and the OEM to make attractive PCs for a better price than Apple.
Guest

People are buying Macs for a lot of reasons. First, Apple has successfully positioned themselves as the new “it” kid, especially among the young, rich, etc. , with MS relegated to your father’s PC. Many switchers are also just tired of the patch tuesday virus/malware system rot maintenance requirement of Windows. Others genuinely feel Mac offers better value for money, even if they run Windows on it (I know several people like this).

I think you underestimate the appeal of OS X, which is really OS X + iLife. I don’t know a single person who has switched (and we’re talking dozens) who would come back to Windows. And before you accuse me of being a fanboi, I’m a long time Windows user and it’s still my primary OS.

That’s the challenge MS faces. I agree they need to do a much better job of promoting their OS, especially to younger people. But they also need to address the issues above which are clear disadvantages. OEMs are having a hard time matching Apple’s pricing lately. That’s another problem. It used to be that was easy. But with the MBA, most OEMs have not been able to even equal that price point. Why? Because Intel is being an asshat and wants minimum $250 for an ultrabook processor. Between that, MS’s $40-60 license,an $80-100 SSD, and RAM, you can see how difficult it is for those guys to come in for $1000 with any profit at all. Maybe Windows on ARM will allow OEMs some more flexibility there. But that’s a long ways off.
Anonymous

“First, Apple has successfully positioned themselves as the new “it” kid, especially among the young, rich, etc. , with MS relegated to your father’s PC.”

If thats the case then all of those rich kids must be buying A LOT of PCs for their fathers. Windows 7 became the FASTEST SELLING OS OF ALL TIME…what dont you understand about it being more popular than ALL OS X OSes COMBINED!? Stop trying to paint this picture that everyone is moving to Macs because its cool to do so…very few are actually moving to Macs in the grand scheme of things, and the little marketshare it doesn have isnt enough to make Windows feel threaten at all.
Anonymous

Please give an example?
Guest

Yeah, yeah. MS is doing great. Losing in mobile and now tablets was all just a feint. They really wanted Apple to grow larger than them, and make more money, and have 7x the growth, and be more valuable so that they would get cocky and then MS could bury them.

You sound like a drooling idiot who thinks every MS failure is really a success. Wake. The. Fuck. Up.
Anonymous

What are we talking about now? Really, what is this? When all else fails, put words in his mouth? I cant help if my logic gets you upset. Crapware was brought up. I’m saying especially on ARM devices MS has said that they are controlling what can and cant be placed the devices and how much…how its much more akin to WP7′s approach, which NOBODY who owns one is complaining about. If that bothers you that MS is taking away one of your talking points, then thats a personal problem, but don’t put make the convo about something else or put words in my mouth…that just makes you look weak.
Frylockns86

Agreed. I think I would be willing to pay more for a great OoBX than deal with crapware removal. This is why I wish Microsoft would further push the systems they sell online via their store.
Guest

They add crapware because their margins are tiny and crapware pays. I agree it’s countrerproductive from a user point of view, but then maybe the answer is for MS and Intel, who make the lion’s share of profit off a PC sale, to offer extra coop funds as an incentive for shipping “clean” PCs.
Anonymous

Margins are tiny because of hardware competition for an OS ecosystem. Not all add crapware in the sense of bogging down the machine. With Apple the brand image allows them to sell with higher margins. In PC land you must create a superlative like VaioZ in order to demand high margins. In Apple land although a mac’s bill of materials is the same or lower as an HP envy’s they can charge more and fanbois(discussion partners present here excluded) will be happy that “hey Apple is so cool, they can profit more than those poor pc manufacturers”; not realizing that it is they that are funding that premium tax.
Technically a mac and an xps z or envy or some high end asus cost the same and have the same build VALUE( OS sensibilities aside) but Apple being the brand that it is can afford to add a premium tax for something NOT premium(according to that bill of materials I mentioned earlier). They flaunt their differentiating OS and tout their platform as a privilege. Good for them I say, you must charge premium if you see and sell yourself as premium, but at least build a freaking MBP inside an MBA shell, like the VaioZ because some of us that understand hardware see through Apple’s marketing gimmicks and don’t believe in their mac’s inherent magic extra.
xledger

What they need is “Reset factory settings”. And by “factory”, I mean Microsoft’s Windows 8, not OEM.

No more reformatting, uninstalling crapware, etc. Whenever I want to start anew, RESET!

Shiro

“HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer and countless others are all resting on the shoulders of Microsoft to provide a true iPad competitor OS that can span the breadth of conventional PCs and new form factors”

What about Google??

http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay

I think its pretty much clear that despite their decent sales no android tablet comes anywhere close to the ipad in sales, so obviously google is not the answer for these OEM’s.
Guest

About 4M units last quarter. Not iPad levels, but nothing to sneeze at.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Pedro-Roque/100000194503830 Pedro Roque

4M units build by what seens a billion manufactures, amout to a big pile of almost nothing
Guest

Well, it exceeds the total number of PCs sold by the largest PC vendor during the same quarter and represents something like 400% growth compared to every other PC makers’s decline (except Apple). So more than almost nothing.
Anonymous

PCs should be counted as a whole, regardless of brand, as they are all under the Win umbrella essentially identical machines.
Anonymous

PCs should be counted as a whole, regardless of brand, as they are all under the Win umbrella essentially identical machines.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NZRPL7DK7DFQQO44J5TM4PQLGU Harvey

I might be crazy, but i think MS and Nokia got more than just a 4inch phone coming. They have to be doing some tablets too. It only makes sense……to the point where i tell myself that Nokia hasn’t done a tablet before. But still, makes you wonder.

Tom

I sure hope so.

(Nokia used to make CRT monitors, back in the late 1990s. So the PC world is not completely foreign to them. It’s just that their mobile phone business took off so quickly that they ended up focusing on it.)
Jinge

Not sure of that. WP is not supposed to be on tablets – screen resolution homogeneity I would guess and a well designed app for mobile won’t be perfect for tablets, nor tablet app will be great on mobile as you don’t use fingers the same way.
Nokia has no experience on doing desktop OSes, so I am not sure, but maybe, and it would be great! A dockable tablet to get a netbook would be perfect
Anonymous

Why would Nokia need to know about desktop OSes? Windows 8 shares a lot of commonality with what Nokia already knows…an OS running on ARM architecture for mobile use with an app store, navigation and mapping features etc.
Anonymous

Why would Nokia need to know about desktop OSes? Windows 8 shares a lot of commonality with what Nokia already knows…an OS running on ARM architecture for mobile use with an app store, navigation and mapping features etc.
Guest

Possible. But Nokia has it hands full just trying to rescue its rapidly declining phone business. If they can at least stabilize that, they could be a great new OEM on the tablet side assuming they choose W8, which isn’t a given.

Anonymous

I really though thte touchpad would survive. I have one. (didn’t pay for it) and it is really nice. I mean really nice for a gen 1 product. It is betterthan the original ipad for sure. The lack of apps hurt, but wow this is a shock.

Test1ngi23

It is MUCH more multitasking-centric than the alternatives. Much better than the iPad.
Guest

Because iPad is more focused on what most people want currently: apps and content. Which is why TouchPad is a failure and iPad rules.
Anonymous

People don’t buy tablets because they need them. People buy the ipad because they want it and not because they made an audit, let’s see which tablet I need in my life right now and which fits. In the collective mind share ipad reigns supreme and as far as I am concerned it is better than an android, webos or qnx one.

GianTech

COME ON MICROSOFT…. DON’T MISS THE BOAT…. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Guest

The boat sailed, came back, sailed again, came back, and is heading out of port again.
xledger

Close, but not quite. Microsoft doesn’t need to get on any boat. They’ll build their OWN ship, sail it, and sink the ones in front of them.

http://twitter.com/oolong2 oolong2

HP had no clue what they were doing with WebOS… Thier best days (Compaq’s) were when they were focused on hardware and integrating Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows Server, etc.

They’ve finally figured out that with Windows 8 coming out they need to go back to that model. Their HP windows 7 tablet sold better than expected last year and business is ripe for the picking with a Windows 8 tablet with good hardware.

Guest

HP just put a bullet in their PC business. Starting today customers are moving to other suppliers. Bet on it. HP saw Windows 8 and still made a decision to exit the PC space. That says a lot about what they think it’s chances are against iPad and Android.

J A

I saw this coming even before HP dreamt of buying WebOS from Palm. It take much more than a random OS to deliver without even a small ecosystem. WebOS had no ecosystem at all so it already died on arrival. Windows 8 has a huge existing ecosystem and will hit the ground running like mad. Apple products have a tiny ecosystem and are mainly impulsive buys for the public, currently. Soon after, it will loose its pace. Just wait for Windows 8 tablets, next Windows Phones and Xbox service deliver and the unified ecosystem they are coming with.
Anonymous

The device looks gorgeous.
Guest

“HP had grand plans to offer webOS on its PC devices, a scenario directed towards Microsoft independence.”

After the Longhorn delay, the dud that was Vista, and most recently MS dropping the ball completely on a competitive tablet OS, can you blame them? MS has let the entire OEM channel down several times over the last decade and they’ve increasingly responded by looking elsewhere; first Linux on netbooks, which MS was able to reel back in by chopping prices and extending the life of XP, and most recently by embracing Android (and WebOS) for tablets instead of waiting for MS to get its act together after once again being caught napping by Apple.

HP made a lot of mistakes. But MS isn’t blameless. And MS is now in a lot of trouble because this time their mistakes are coming back and biting them in the ass through lower WIndows and Office OEM revenue.

Anonymous

The dud that was Vista? Last time I checked Vista sold over 300 million copies…if Vista was a dud than every version of OS X was completely non existent.
Guest

Vista sold because it was the default on most new PCs. But it was still a dud that missed MS’s own sales projections and badly damaged Window’s reputation. Which is why enterprises never embraced it broadly (unlike W7), it was quickly dispatched, and you’ll rarely hear MS mention it. When you have the position in PCs that MS still enjoys, you can have a dud and still get a lot of unit sales. The issue is what happens to your reputation, OEM loyalty, and competitors. It’s not a coincidence that OS X adoption visibly took off starting the quarter Vista launched and has continued to gain share every quarter since. Or that Asus and others initially adopted Linux instead of Vista for netbooks. And sure, the Mac number is still small relatively speaking. But their impact is much more formidable than it appears. They now control 90% of the >$1000 PC market, almost 10% of the North American market, are a leading provider to the important student demographic, and net 50% of total industry profit, which is one reason HP (the leading PC player who only nets $.5B) is exiting. And if you include tablet sales with PCs, they’re now the #1 PC seller worldwide and by a large margin.
Guest

Vista sold because it was the default on most new PCs. But it was still a dud that missed MS’s own sales projections and badly damaged Window’s reputation. Which is why enterprises never embraced it broadly (unlike W7), it was quickly dispatched, and you’ll rarely hear MS mention it. When you have the position in PCs that MS still enjoys, you can have a dud and still get a lot of unit sales. The issue is what happens to your reputation, OEM loyalty, and competitors. It’s not a coincidence that OS X adoption visibly took off starting the quarter Vista launched and has continued to gain share every quarter since. Or that Asus and others initially adopted Linux instead of Vista for netbooks. And sure, the Mac number is still small relatively speaking. But their impact is much more formidable than it appears. They now control 90% of the >$1000 PC market, almost 10% of the North American market, are a leading provider to the important student demographic, and net 50% of total industry profit, which is one reason HP (the leading PC player who only nets $.5B) is exiting. And if you include tablet sales with PCs, they’re now the #1 PC seller worldwide and by a large margin.
Anonymous

I love how you paint these pretty pictures to put Apple in a better light. The truth is Macs have about 5% marketshare world wide and you’re forgetting that millions run Windows on their Macs as well. 300 million is 300 million, but last time I checked W7 was well over 400 million. Obviously MS reputation couldn’t be hurt too much considering the successor to the dud became the fastest selling OS of all time (this includes any version of OS X, iOS or other wise). My logic tells me that if Vista was this dud you make it out to be then W7 would have sold even less. The truth is that Vista has nothing to do with Macs small gain in marketshare but instead iOS popularity. As Apple’s popularity with their iPod and iPhone lines grew so did their reputation…as did their Mac line. Its thats simple.

Whatever road HP chooses is up to them, MS has made them a very rich company over the years and will have no problem getting OEMs for Windows 8.
Guest

I’m not painting pictures. Everything I said is true. It’s just what doesn’t get said if all you look at is their 5% worldwide number. Yes, W7 sold very well. It became the fastest selling OS of all time because a) it’s a good product b) Vista wasn’t, which meant most enterprises held off doing migrations from XP c) the PC base has gotten much larger since the last major refresh: XP. Slap even the same % on a much larger base and you get the fastest selling OS of all time. Vista being a dud helped W7′s numbers be better particularly because enterprises waited. And what were they going to do – go Apple or Linux? No. Most have decades of software than runs on Windows. But ask a more relevant competitive question: How much share did W7, a very good product, win back from Apple? Ans: zero. Not a single percent. Mac share has continued to increase every quarter. Yes, there’s a iOS Halo effect that helps Mac sales. Are you saying MS should just resign itself to a shrinking share of the market?

MS didn’t make HP a rich company. HP made HP a rich company and did more than any other OEM to make MS a rich company. You have a completely backwards view of how the PC supply channel works and how profit flows. OEMs are lucky to make 5-8%. HP makes 6%. In fact the bulk of their profits come from the services they provide on the data center side, which is mostly Linux -based. MS will have no trouble getting PC OEMs for W8. It tbd whether they can get any Tablet OEMs to lead with it. And that’s what will be critical to MS’s future.
Anonymous

Those poor OEM’s, as I replied before to you, have to compete with each other; the same competition that brought Apple to the x86 architecture. Windows makes them fight with little chance to differentiate other than hardware build quality and you have plenty of choices. You praise Apple for getting higher margins on the mac front but that is possible because they can not because they are worth it(my opinion). Mac share has increased as in number of machines sold but OSX share has not. It is still at 5.xx% worldwide(US 11%). You see windows has no problems if a windows user buys a mac, because it is still a windows user. As long as that mac guy that is heavily invested in the Apple garden buys one windows license and one office license, MS is happy.
I cannot agree on how you see that somehow all those poor OEM’s are cursed not having where to go, OSX closed, Linux hell no; but that is Win’s merit for winning the desktop wars a long time ago. MS and HP both made each other rich, it’s a symbiosis. Not a single time have you questioned Apple’s model. Why should their completely closed model be better ? The mac pie is only 18%(12% laptops/ 6% mac) of total profits. Apple is the behemoth in market cap today due to their mobile front that executed extremely well and not due to the holiness of their pc platform that stalls as much as the whole PC market.
Anonymous

Dude, whatever reasons you want to give for W7 being so successful after “the dud” that was Vista doesn’t matter at the end of the day…IT IS FACT…highest selling OS of all time PERIOD. And Windows 8 will only benefit from the success that is Windows 7. OS X can not and will not threaten Windows…I don’t care how small their marketshare has risen. You saying Apple has this or that is neither here nor there…Windows 8 WILL have even more OEMs than Windows 7 did and will now also have tons more hardware options and system architectures for much more varied price points, a UI and input methods that can adapt to any situation (unlike Lion), that will lead to many hundreds of millions of sales, and continue to dominate despite losing a few marketshare points or not.
Guest

Vista sold because it was the default on most new PCs. But it was still a dud that missed MS’s own sales projections and badly damaged Window’s reputation. Which is why enterprises never embraced it broadly (unlike W7), it was quickly dispatched, and you’ll rarely hear MS mention it. When you have the position in PCs that MS still enjoys, you can have a dud and still get a lot of unit sales. The issue is what happens to your reputation, OEM loyalty, and competitors. It’s not a coincidence that OS X adoption visibly took off starting the quarter Vista launched and has continued to gain share every quarter since. Or that Asus and others initially adopted Linux instead of Vista for netbooks. And sure, the Mac number is still small relatively speaking. But their impact is much more formidable than it appears. They now control 90% of the >$1000 PC market, almost 10% of the North American market, are a leading provider to the important student demographic, and net 50% of total industry profit, which is one reason HP (the leading PC player who only nets $.5B) is exiting. And if you include tablet sales with PCs, they’re now the #1 PC seller worldwide and by a large margin.

Anonymous

Honestly I’d rather Microsoft become a PC/tablet/phone manufacturer. Go full vertical integration like Apple. It’s the only way now.

Guest

Yeah, let’s get the maker of Zune and Kin to go head to head against the maker of iPod and iPhone. That ought to be a good match up. Fail.
Anonymous

Im not sure I understand what exactly you are getting at here. I have NEVER seen a single person who owns, or owned one of those products complain about poor quality hardware. In fact, as far as Zune goes (never seen a person admit to owning a Kin), many has said it was one of the best quality pieces of hardware they ever had (myself included). Maybe you speak of sales? In that case I noticed you conveniently left out Xbox from the list which is currently at over 55 million. Either way MS has shown that they can produce quality hardware that can sell.

Guest

off topic… u know that “webOS” sounds like “man’s ball” in spanish? … it’s so funny say it
Anthonycenteio

If only I could install windows 8 on my touchpad when its released! Make it happen MS!
http://www.facebook.com/rknevhulaudzi Rendani K Nevhulaudzi

True, MS focus has been in Software for years, but that doesn’t me if they go for hardware the will loose, Xbox has been an example of a success Microsoft Hardware selling globally. It would be a conflict of interest if Microsoft starts producing their own hardware, they will eventually loose partners since they would be competing with them. Apple on the other side is still enjoying the success of their iPad, give it time, they will loose pace, we will look back and say Apple iPads used to sell like cookies…lol

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