Microsoft Surface and competitors' Windows tablets

[haven]

Announcements about Surface For Windows RT tablets have been conspicuously absent in recent weeks. Now an article in China Times reveals that Microsoft and ARM processor manufacturers have intentionally limited the OEMs for Windows RT tablets to a small set of companies.

NVidia is working with Asus and Lenovo.

Texas Instruments is working with Toshiba.

Qualcomm has partnered with Samsung. (HP was a Qualcomm partner, but they dropped out so they could focus on Windows 8 tablets.)

There's a separate rumor that Nokia (now a subsidiary of Microsoft) is working with Qualcomm on RT.

These five OEMs will show RT tablets when Windows RT is introduced in late October. Hopefully they will have products to ship before the holidays.

After January 1, Microsoft is opening RT to all manufacturers. So we should see a flood of inexpensive RT tablets from Chinese sources in Spring next year.

It remains to be seen how much software will be available for Windows RT. Microsoft says they will make a version of Microsoft Office for RT. But I have not heard announcements from other Windows software developers about support for RT. Have you?

[Honu]

read a rumor that their will be 5 new kindles out this year ? not sure if you saw or read that ? I skipped it as I was on another hunt but cant remember where it was now ?

if the small iPad comes out and 5 new kindles and new ones from other companies I wonder if their will be any room left for the surface except for a few loyal fans ?

I was a newton fan of course and loved it but I was the niche I worked at HP for 3 years as a technical trainer/ manager of some sorts to high volume retail chains like compUSA best buy and office depot etc.... this was years ago
and funny I would bring my newton and the Jornado division kept giving me handhelds to use and say get rid of that thing then I would show them how cool the handwriting was etc.. hahahahah

I think MS is now going to be that tiny niche of MS folks and maybe some sources like the medical industry or other similar vertical markets only as a closed custom hardware/software source

[haven]

The RT tablet will include a version of the Microsoft Office apps. That alone will make it attractive to businesses. However, If few 3rd party apps are developed for RT, then businesses will adopt the Windows 8 tablet that runs on the Intel processor. RT, running on an Procesor designed by ARM, could be rejected. We just don't know enough about the limitations of RT.

One advantage of RT tablets will be better battery life, compared to the Intel tablet.

[haven]

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2...ws-rt-pcs.aspx

In a blog post this morning, Microsoft confirmed that it has four OEMs (ASUS, Lenovo, Dell and Samsung) for Windows RT tablets. I'm not sure what happened to Toshiba. The same three microprocessor manufacturers (NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments) are listed as working on Windows RT. Microsoft says the three microprocessors will run on a single code base, meaning there will be one version of Windows RT for all three processors.

Microsoft is making its own version of a tablet for RT, as well. That's a fact that does not sit well with manufacturers like ACER, who see it as unfair competition.

Microsoft says that Windows RT devices will include tablets, tablet+keyboard convertibles, and standard notebook designs. The screen size will be between 10 and 11 inches, and weight will range from about a pound (think 7 inch tablet) to a little more than two pounds (think Macbook Air).

RT is the version of Windows that runs on low power microprocessors based on designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. ARM-based processors are also used in iPad and Android tablets. I'm sure there are hackers (oops, I mean experimenting programmers) who will be looking for ways to run RT on other platforms, like the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire. To try to impede these efforts, Microsoft announced that Windows RT software will not be available separate from the purchase of an RT tablet.

The ARM processor design uses power more efficiently than the current Intel designs. So Microsoft is pitching the Windows RT tablet as an "always on, always connected" device. Windows RT will have several levels of activation, from fully on, to on standby but connected, to standby in low power mode, to fully off.

Since ARM processor designs don't run standard Windows software, none of current Windows applications will run under Windows RT. Microsoft is creating an RT-specific version of the Office apps (Word, Excel, Powerpoint). But it's not clear what other Windows software companies are working on a version for RT. I guess we'll learn more when RT is released in October.

It will be particularly interesting to see how the OEMs choose to price their tablets. Android tablet manufacturers found out the hard way that they could not compete with iPad at the same price point. Now Android tablets sell for 25 to 50 percent less that comparable iPad prices. Will the same thing happen to RT tablets?

[Update: Toshiba says it dropped out because of "delayed components." In other words, they couldn't get their act together in time to meet the late October deadline. I expect we'll see Windows RT tablets from Toshiba in early 2013. For now, Toshiba, just like HP, will focus on producing tablets that run the desktop version of Windows 8.]

[haven]

This may be why Acer and other Windows OEMs are upset with Microsoft marketing its own tablet under the Surface brand--
an anonymous source says Microsoft will introduce a Windows RT tablet for $199 in October.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/14/m...t-surface-199/

A tablet with a 10 inch screen would cost more than $199 to manufacture. Include a version of Microsoft Office at that price, and you've got a real bargain.

[reece146]

MS has the reserves to do loss leader and obtain entrenchment. They'd be stupid not to attempt this.

The caveat is that the product better be worth the gamble.

[UK4X4]

As a business user- hardly anyone in my company has gone the IPAD route simply because the whole company is imbedded with windows- office-exchange and sharepoint

If they bring out the windows tablet i can see a hell of a lot of tablets on tables in the near future...mine included rather than humping my large laptop to the rigsite

[nwoods]

A tablet with a 10 inch screen would cost more than $199 to manufacture. Include a version of Microsoft Office at that price, and you've got a real bargain.

And Apple still gets a piece of it: http://9to5mac.com/2012/08/13/apple-...ment-in-place/

[haven]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...han-win-8.html

Bloomberg interviews a Lenovo executive, and learns that Windows RT tablets will be $200 to $300 cheaper than full Windows 8 tablets. That should put the starting price for an RT tablet around $300.

$300 sounds more reasonable than the rumored $200 price. Most Android tablets with 10 inch screen cost $300 or a little more.

[haven]

Here are details about Samsung's entry into the Windows 8 RT tablet arena. The tablet was shown at the IFA conference in Berlin, Germany on 29 Aug 2012. I think other manufacturers' RT tablets will offer similar specifications.

Samsung ATIV Tab (pronounced "Ahh-Teev")

Windows 8 RT OS
includes Microsoft Office apps (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
runs other Windows apps designed for the interface formerly known as Metro
10.1 inch 1366x768 color LCD touchscreen
1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor
2 GB RAM
32 or 64 GB flash memory for storage
2 megapixel front facing camera
5 megapixel rear facing camera
micro USB port
micro HDMI output port
micro SD card slot
WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC radios
dock port designed to connect to keyboard
no mention of GPS
8200 mAh (31 WHr) battery (read: very big battery)
1.25 lb

The ATIV Tab will be available October 28, when Windows 8 RT is officially released. No price was announced

Lots of photos here
http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/29/32...ds-on-ifa-2012

Two observations:

1366x768 screen won't look so good next to iPad's 2048X1536. So I expect the ATIV Tab will be priced lower than the 32 GB iPad, which costs $600. It appears that Microsoft is requiring the big brother X86 Windows 8 tablets to use an 1920x1080 screen, to help differentiate them from the Windows 8 RT tablets. Microsoft calls their own Windows RT tablet the Surface, and the Windows 8 tablet the Surface Pro.

The Snapdragon S4 microprocessor is a customized version of the the ARM Cortex-A15 specifications. With two cores, the S4 runs as fast as current Cortex-A9 quad core processors, and uses less power.