Microsoft’s Bridge Between Tablets and PCs

We are getting closer to Microsoft’s position of how they will compete in the Tablet market against Apple’s iPad and Google’s Android tablets. With Windows 8 being officially announced today, it looks like Microsoft has decided to bridge the Tablet with how users want PC functionality. Windows 8 is for a device/ computer that operates as a kind of hybrid PC and media tablet, with all the functions of a standard PC operating system but the user experience of a tablet. This bridge from PC to Tablet is an interesting idea that is worthy of consideration.

But first, what EXACTLY is a Tablet? It seems to be a device that bridges the technology gap between smartphones and laptops. Many people have smartphones and for the most part, love them, but there are times when they wish they could do more, such as edit a report or some other activity that requires a more robust digital/ creative environment. Microsoft looks at it this way. Their hope is that there’s over a billion PC users that can’t get away from the ‘creativity’ a PC gives them versus a Tablet being used only for information- reading books, taking notes, surfing the Internet, etc.

To bridge the gap, Microsoft announced that Windows 8 will have two interfaces: the traditional “desktop” familiar to PC users, and a touch-based interface using the same large “tiles” used on Windows software for smartphones. It will work on both the Intel-designed chips used in PCs, as well as the low-power chips found in smartphones. The software will also be designed to bridge the gap between the “apps” found on tablets and smartphones and the full-featured applications of PCs.

Whether Microsoft’s direction takes hold is a huge question mark. The tech giant cannot let Apple monopolize the tablet market like they did themselves with the desktop. But some technical analysts say the iPad is trending to be the next PC-like device, and this is the first time since Windows came to market over 25 years ago that Microsoft has not been the lead for the next desktop.

And even though Microsoft sees a future in the tablet market, some analysts doubt how successful they will be. According to research firm In-Stat, they predict that Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS will account for 90 percent of the tablet market through 2017, with Windows coming in a distant third. In reality, we do know that it’s getting pretty grey between PCs and Tablets. “The distinction between notebook [PCs] and tablets will blur,” said Rick Sherlund, software analyst at Nomura securities. For Microsoft, they’re gambling that their Windows 8 bridge will turn touch-screen computing into something more familiar to the world’s one billion PC users. Someone once told me “the customer will let you know what your product should be able to do”. We’re going to have to wait on the answer for this one.