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Is this a parody? Much to the consternation of its partners, Microsoft is notorious for competing with them. It is also notorious for getting to new product lines only to see them fail miserably. Then it has to saw off the limb leaving its customers and any partners that it took out on that limb crashing to the ground.

Why is MS [supposedly] announcing a tablet at 6:30 PM EDT two days before its Windows Phone 8 Developers' Summit? Why not wait for the Summit?

It is important for Microsoft to enter the field so they can join in on all the law suits that are a part of being relevant in today's technical marketplace. If you are not being sued by Samsung you are not a player.

Microsoft is interested in "aspects of the user experience"?

You could have fooled me.

It won't work for the same reason that Boeing is careful not to run its own internal passenger and package delivery system. Customers don't like to have a mission-critical supplier competing with their core business. They'll become worried that Microsoft is holding something back to make its product do better. They'll see bugs in Microsoft's tablet OS as evidence that they're being sabotaged. Rumors will spread. Ill-will will develop. Perhaps there'll even be lawsuits or a bumbling federal investigation.

Money is also an issue. Other tablet companiesl get the suspicion, probably justified, that what they're paying Microsoft for its table OS is being used to subsidize Microsoft tablets and undercut their prices. And those that also market PCs will be even more suspicious. And unlike with Windows and Office suites (i.e 123 v. Excel) rumors, these companies do have Android as a viable alternative.

Last but not least, this is a risky venture. In the current market, new tablet makers are likely to be competing with established companies for the 20-30% of the market that isn't owned by Apple. Microsoft will have little chance for a big success and whatever small success they have will reinforce their current image as a loser when it comes to new technology.

This isn't to say that Microsoft won't make this move, just that the move isn't likely to work out well.

Lovely Zuuune! Wonderful Zune!
Lovely Zuuune! Wonderful Zune.
Zu-u-u-u-u-u-u-une.
Zu-u-u-u-u-u-u-une.
Zu-u-u-u-u-u-u-une.
Zu-u-u-u-u-u-u-une.

Lovely Zuune! (Lovely Zune!)
Lovely Zuune! (Lovely Zune!)
Lovely Zuune!

Zuune, Zuune, Zuune, Zuuuuune!

This post has been edited by mblaydoe: 18 June 2012 - 07:26 AM

What will they call it ZUNE 2

MS has to produce its own tablet, OS, app store, and ensure there are plenty of apps upon its release. In other words, give customers a compelling reason to buy it.

Re: "A Microsoft-made tablet makes sense on multiple levels."

Especially on the tried-everything-else-and-failed level.

The author wrote, "And even Amazon, with its custom version of Android, has a family of Kindle tablets under its own name."
Excuse me? Several e-readers and a hybrid tablet/e-reader (the Fire) are a family of tablets?! For me that's taking literacy and the facts just too far...
@MrMe- You are right, this article *is a parody.*

It's not hard to make arguments for something that doesn't exist. As a result pundits do it all the time. But the problem with a Microsoft tablet will be the same as with the OEM versions - Windows 8. As different as Windows 8 seems on the surface, it's really the same old story with the same old Microsoft strategy - it tries to be everything to everyone. The hybrid tablet/keyboard products now being introduced in experimental form factors fail the primary test of a tablet - the one established by Apple with the iPad - that is, simplicity. They are, in fact, just bastardized laptops. From the reviews I've read of Windows 8, it's redolent with the same bastard flavor, in which it's difficult to tell whether you're in Metro or in Windows 8. The effort to integrate the two has made them all but indistinguishable, yet the functions of the two operating environments are widely dissimilar.

Apple, despite the appearance of convergence between OS X and iOS, remains clear on the differences, insisting that the iPad is not a PC. I don't blame Microsoft for trying a different tack, but just because it's different doesn't mean it will be successful. Microsoft has a good thing with Windows Phone 7. Had they followed up on that creative approach to a touch interface with a version of Metro for a media tablet, they might have been late to the game, but they would at least be in the game. Instead, they are trying to combine Rugby and Soccer on the same field at the same time - and the result is utterly predictable: Chaos. As if the technology market is not chaotic enough already.

While it's certainly possible to see a Microsoft made tablet as a prototype for the OEMs, rather than following Microsoft's lead, they will struggle to differentiate themselves from the Microsoft product and from one another, just as they do now. The result will be confusion among consumers and the low demand that such confusion creates. So Microsoft and their OEMs will be stuck fighting for a viable piece of a niche market that really has no viable pieces. And none of them will compete with the iPad in any meaningful way.

It's not surprising that Windows pundits remain bullish on Microsoft: Their livelihoods depend on Microsoft's success. It's failures only make their own prospects look bleak. So it's no use looking to them for clarity. They're swimming in muddy water. There's no clarity to be had.

OK, its a tablet. No info on availability, screen rez, or pricing. It has a keyboard built into the cover like some third-party iPad solutions.

Probably good enough to kill off all the non-iPads if it doesn't cost too much.

They need to carefully think about why they are doing this. If this is simply a vehicle to sell office, or a stopgap because they feel they are missing out then I doubt it can be successful for very long. If their mission statement is not clearly in mind it will be hard for them to stay focused,