Apple iPad Mini Could Complicate Things For Windows 8 Tablets 200
Nerval's Lobster writes "Current rumor suggests that Apple is gearing up to unveil its iPad Mini Oct. 17, with invitations to media arriving Oct. 10. That's according to Fortune, which obtained the information from an unnamed Apple investor who, in turn, heard those dates from other unnamed sources. While that attribution might prove a bit too vaporous for some people, it does align with earlier reports from AllThingsD that Apple is planning to reveal a smaller iPad sometime in October. If those rumors prove accurate, the unveiling of an iPad Mini in that timeframe could prove very bad news for the upcoming Windows 8 tablets. (Gizmodo offers a pretty complete rumor rundown on the iPad Mini's possible features here.) Unlike the traditional PC market, Microsoft doesn't dominate the market for mobile-device operating systems. Windows 7 tablets never gained much of a toehold among tablet users, who prefer iPads and Android-based devices by wide margins. When it comes to Windows 8 (and Windows RT, the version of next-generation Windows for ARM architecture), Microsoft is starting out as the underdog."
Doesn't sound likely (Score:4, Insightful)
From what I've seen, Windows 8 tablets are focused on the 9-12 inch segment. I'd say the real threat posed by the iPad Mini is against the smaller stuff, like the small Kindle Fire (HD or not), Nexus 7 and similar hardware.
Re:Doesn't sound likely (Score:5, Informative)
The speculated size is 7.85". Which puts it somewhere in-between. Microsoft's biggest tablet problem is that they haven't learned the HP TouchPad lesson... the only way to compete with Apple today is to massively undercut them on price. Microsoft hasn't even announced official Surface prices yet, but the early rumors suggested they might actually cost more than a full-size iPad.
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The speculated size is 7.85". Which puts it somewhere in-between. Microsoft's biggest tablet problem is that they haven't learned the HP TouchPad lesson... the only way to compete with Apple today is to massively undercut them on price. Microsoft hasn't even announced official Surface prices yet, but the early rumors suggested they might actually cost more than a full-size iPad.
It is impossible to undercut Apple on price as Apple [thankfully] will secure the bulk components 6-12 months in advance barring Microsoft from doing so, not to mention Microsoft can't actually afford to play loss leader with Apple. They will just accelerate their own bankruptcy.
Re:Doesn't sound likely (Score:4, Insightful)
I think the concern is that the iPad mini will steal the Slate's thunder and may come in cheaper than an iPad 2 which is $399. It would be a black eye for Microsoft if the flagship Windows 8 tablet fails to gain any traction in the marketplace.
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Free or very c
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With falling hardware prices, Microsoft's ability to charge $200/computer (Windows+Office) for software is not supportable in the long-term. Customers will simply refuse to pay it.
People will pay a few percent of the unit price for software. After that point, it becomes very tough to sell bundled software. Microsoft has a massive lock-in on the Windows PC, however this lock in is not worth $200/unit * 500 million units/year, especially in expanding non-traditional markets like mobile phones.
Who fucking cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
There is absolutely no story here. Nothing to even connect Microsoft and Apple.
"Competition from X could be bad for Y".
What a fucking wank fest this site is. Anyways, flame on, dopes.
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This is just more of the same sort of "Apple is inevitable rah rah" kind of nonsense that has been perpetuated since the release of the iPad. Apple appears to be finally acknowledging a use case they tried to ignore. They are being dragged kicking and screaming by the market into releasing a product like what everyone else already has.
"Apple eats crow" would be a better headline for this situation (assuming it's even true).
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Just more Apple marketing. Ohh leaks and special information about super special Apple products, really all so lame. Notice Apple never public comments, it always leaks, yet it is the most security conscious employees must STFU or be fired company on the planet. When will this lame arsed marketing tactic end.
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Actually, if you replace the X with "Apple" and the Y with "Microsoft"...they seem pretty connected. You can't throw me off with your skillful use of variables in quotes!
Next they'll make an iPad Nano (Score:4, Interesting)
Why cant i mod the story down? (Score:5, Funny)
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*pfff* we have to have at least three Apple related stories a day so that all the karma whores can get in their Samsung >> Apple, lol round corners, and lawsuit jokes.
We can only hope... (Score:5, Informative)
Would it be poor taste to sneak a large Steve Jobs poster onto the outside of Apple's release venue, with his quotes on 7 inch tablets?
"If you take an iPad and hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on the seven-inch tablets are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the iPad display. This size isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion.
Well, one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference. It is meaningless, unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size. Apple's done extensive user-testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick, or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps."
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People have spent quite a bit of time on this already, and if their math is right, the table will actually be 7.85" with a 1024x768 resolution. Why are they so sure of that size? Because it provides the same touch area target sizes as used by the iPhone/iPod. Moving close to 8" also makes a big difference.
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Steve said a lot of things. What he meant was "we're working on something like that but we don't want to show our hand so we're going to be publicly dismissive of it."
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Mod parent up. I don't know why more people haven't figured out this is how Apple operates. The only thing I can think of that they were publicly dismissive of and didn't ever do a 180 on is flash on mobile. And if Adobe had ever figured out how to make flash on mobile work well and hadn't abandoned the project, you can bet that Apple would have eventually included a flash compatible runtime (either written by Adobe or licensed from Adobe) while conveniently forgetting that they ever hated it.
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Well said. However, this is not a 7-inch tablet. This is a 7.85-inch tablet. You see, Steve was correct that 7 inches is too small. However, 7.85 inches is the perfect size. It just took Apple several years of research to find out exactly the perfect size.
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They may have "created the tablet as we know it" but my local iFan and early adopter has dumped her iPad because the 7 inch form factor suited her better. Also, all of the scare mongering about Android was nonsense.
It turns out that Apple is not infallible after all.
So all of your attempts to fellate the designers at Apple are moot.
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Meh (Score:5, Insightful)
If the rumours are true and judging by the lack of innovation with the iPhone 5 it seems likely that the iPad Mini won't be anything special. Gizmodo seems to be expecting a sub-HD screen, the same as the iPhone, and fairly pedestrian hardware specs. iOS 6 is already out so we know what to expect from that.
Their competitors are doing things like split screen multitasking at a price point it seems unlikely Apple will be able to match (the iPod Touch is $300).
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iPads are mobile within an office environment.
iPad mini's will be more mobile out of doors. They'll sell a higher proportion of LTE versions than the larger iPad.
iPads are perfect for PDF documents. But a bit big for reading novels in bed.
iPad mini's are about the right size for recreational reading. And again more portable (fit in purse or backpack better) so more likely to be with you for reading.
Both sizes will sell well. They solve different problems.
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> Agreed. Plus as someone elsewhere posted, anyone who wants an iPad, has one.
So tomorrow iPad sales will be zero? How about the day after that? Next year?
Re:Meh (Score:4, Interesting)
Win 8 tablet: apps to use, plus a *real* OS when I need it. Tired of using bullshit dataviz office on the go? Fire up MS Office 2010. Don't want to play bullshit touch games? Fire up Dead Space, Mass Effect, etc. (limited to what a intel HD 4000 that can play)
Yeah, that sold well last time around. When they called them WinXP tablets.
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Yeah, that sold well last time around. When they called them WinXP tablets.
The obvious difference is that those only had the "real OS" (i.e. desktop) stuff. They were fine for that, but sucked as actual touch devices, because classic Windows UI was not designed for touch.
On the other hand, iPad implemented a good, solid touch experience, but completely dropped the desktop stuff.
Win8 has both worlds. You can use whichever one you need right now, and ignore the other one.
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Yes, of course, this implies that developers will be bothered to write apps for Metro. And why wouldn't they?
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Homework (Score:3)
Win 8 tablet: apps to use, plus a *real* OS when I need it. Tired of using bullshit dataviz office on the go? Fire up MS Office 2010. Don't want to play bullshit touch games? Fire up Dead Space, Mass Effect, etc.
Please explain why that approach will suddenly work now when it failed for about a decade straight before Apple introduced the iPad.
iPad: iOS apps. Limited feature
It's called "focused" and is why Apple has sold tens of millions to date. Odd how people appreciate well written software that tries t
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Please explain why that approach will suddenly work now when it failed for about a decade straight before Apple introduced the iPad.
If you mean Tablet PCs, then this approach failed because it was not backed by a solid touch UI. Win8 is obviously different.
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Well, that's kinda the point. With iPad, you couldn't run any existing apps - only the ones written specifically for it. With Win8, you can run apps written specifically for it, or desktop Office and (on Intel) any existing third-party software for Windows.
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Once again, this wasn't the approach with Tablet PC, because Tablet PC did not have a touch centric UI. Even for third party apps - there was simply no framework they could use, other than doing things completely from scratch, from ground up. What's so hard to understand about that?
It works better this time around because Win8 does have a touch centric UI. And it comes with a framework (several, actually) to enable developers to write their own apps that work well with touch, and blend into that new UI. Exa
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NOR DO ALL THE THIRD PARTY WINDOWS APPS.
Really? Have you even looked at what's already in Windows Store, for starters?
Anyway, when iPhone came out, there were zero third party apps for it, of any kind. Based on your very argument, this should have doomed it as a platform.
One more (Score:2)
Anyway, when iPhone came out, there were zero third party apps for it, of any kind.
Since that is utterly irrelevant to Windows 8, why do you even bother to mention that?
There wasn't that same problem in the mobile space at all. Palm had been successful, Blackberry had been successful. It's not like the PDA and smartphone were not working before.
But the tablet market no-one before Apple could make work, and Microsoft tried for years.
The thing that makes your comment really REALLY off-kilter is that if you
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The problem is that you don't make any coherent argument, so I really don't know what to say. It's like talking to the wall. I was specifically addressing your objection to the guy who said "Win 8 tablet: apps to use, plus a *real* OS when I need it". So far you have not articulated any reasonable argument against that except for a lot of handwaving, like comparing it to Tablet PC (which is not at all like this - in fact, it makes one think that you either haven't seen those devices or you haven't seen Win8
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Because Apple made a new *toy*. iFans would buy shit in a box if it had a fruit logo on it. Regardless, I don't care. Enjoy your shiny toy.
Toys are things you treat as toys. They are only toys if you make that choice.
I use mine as a travel planner or dedicated documentation display or thought collector at conferences. I also use it quite often for review and composing of email. I've also used it to create whole presentations.
Perhaps you are too set in your ways to use an iPad for real work, but much of t
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The peanut gallery was expecting a MacOS tablet rather than an over sized iPod. That shocker is over and done with and the market has shifted. Apple doesn't have another rabbit to pull here.
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Sure they do. They can make a 7' Tablet that doesn't run iOS, but rather runs MacOS. ;)
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If they also sell it for $200, it sounds like a plan.
1. Sell it for $200.
2. Wait for CEOs of all competing companies to die from a heart stroke (shouldn't take more than a day).
3. PROFIT!
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The peanut gallery was expecting a MacOS tablet rather than an over sized iPod.
People were expecting that when Steve Jobs announced the 'iPhone runs OS X' at the iPhone unveiling, only to find out shortly after that in actuality it didn't.
Want bigger, not smaller! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Want bigger, not smaller! (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure Apple's working on it. It will be called the iPad Maxi.
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I'm sure Apple's working on it. It will be called the iPad Maxi.
Too many syllables, not enough flow. I think switching it around and calling it the "Max iPad" is much more elegant.
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Nah. "iPad EXTREME!"
Complicate? (Score:4, Insightful)
I would argue that it does considerably more than simply complicate things. The iPad mini will show that Apple can create and expand upon a range of high quality devices on what is essentially a single platform. It's all about the ecosystem that you can buy today vs. Microsoft's ever persistent promises of a better tomorrow. While that may be an oversimplification, most end users just want something that works, looks great, and makes their lives easier. Currently, I don't see that with Windows outside of the traditional desktop experience.
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The Windows ecosystem is vast, and a lot of business users in particular will love being able to run MS Office on their tablets. Microsoft's biggest advantage is always software compatibility.
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Except that the ARM based devices won't be able to tap that ecosystem *at all*, and the x86 based devices are priced so high that the only people that will buy them are the ones that have a very specific need such as a tablet that ties into Active Directory.
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Microsoft's biggest advantage to date is simply "Windows". Microsoft is a "windows" company, that is what they sell and support. Everything is built on, around and for windows (including Xbox btw). That is also their Achilles' Heal.
They cannot or will not support, fully, other devices and OSes. Nobody wants Windows 8 except a few. There is a huge market for Office Support on other products that is being filled by other people, not Microsoft. They will never make that market, because it isn't "Windows".
Windo
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I was with you until the last sentence. Let me help you out.
I would argue that it does considerably more than simply complicate things. The iPad mini will show that Apple can create and expand upon a range of high quality devices on what is essentially a single platform. It's all about the ecosystem that you can buy today vs. Microsoft's ever persistent promises of a better tomorrow. While that may be an oversimplification, most end users just want something that works, looks great, and makes their lives easier. Currently, I don't see that with Windows.
But Steve said no. (Score:2)
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If you take an iPad and hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on the seven-inch tablets are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the iPad display. This size isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion.
Well, one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference. It is meaningless, unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size. Apple's done extensive user-testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick, or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps.
Third, every tablet user is also a smartphone user. No tablet can compete with the mobility of a smartphone, its ease of fitting into your pocket or purse, its unobtrusiveness when used in a crowd. Given that all tablet users will already have a smartphone in their pockets, giving up precious display area to fit a tablet in our pockets is clearly the wrong trade-off. The 7-inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad.
Fourth, almost all of these new tablets use Android software, but even Google is telling the tablet manufacturers not to use their current release, Froyo, for tablets, and to wait for a special tablet release next year. What does it mean when your software supplier does not (inaudible) to use their software in your tablet? And what does it mean when you ignore them and use it anyway?
Fifth, iPad now has over 35,000 apps on the App Store. This new crop of tablets will have near zero. And sixth and last, our potential competitors are having a tough time coming close to iPad's pricing, even with their far smaller, far less expensive screens. The iPad incorporates everything we have learned about building high value products from iPhones, iPods, and Macs. We create our own A4 chip, our own software, our own battery chemistry, our own enclosure, our own everything. And this results in an incredible product at a great price. The proof of this will be in the pricing of our competitor's products, which will likely offer less for more.
These are among the reasons we think the current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA, dead on arrival. Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their tablets are too small and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both customers and developers who jumped on the 7-inch bandwagon with an orphan product. Sounds like lots of fun ahead.
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I'll just wait for the book titled "How Tim Cook destroyed a $100,000,000,000 company"
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The last time Apple was without Steve, the board forced Apple out, and instituted policies that were the opposite of what Steve would have done. It was these policies that made Apple nearly go bankrupt. This time, the CEO and top executives were all hand picked by Steve for their ability and willingness to continue his policies in his absence. Remember, Tim Cook was effectively acting-CEO for the last year or so that Steve officially held that post due to Steve's health issues. Apple did perfectly fine duri
Plant (Score:4, Interesting)
Always nice to know that Apple plant's stories (or exposes the media bias). I love how everytime some big iPad killer is announced, *someone* posts a story about the iPad mini. Remember the Nexus 7 launch? One week later there was a iPad mini that proved to be vaporware. At least this time it's BEFORE the launch of Win 8, so we'll see it was just a plant story of vaporware.
Re:Plant (Score:5, Insightful)
Always nice to know that Apple plant's stories (or exposes the media bias). I love how everytime some big iPad killer is announced, *someone* posts a story about the iPad mini. Remember the Nexus 7 launch? One week later there was a iPad mini that proved to be vaporware. At least this time it's BEFORE the launch of Win 8, so we'll see it was just a plant story of vaporware.
So Apple must have planted these stories even though their official stance has been "We don't comment on upcoming products." All the while they are orchestrating some media campaign to discredit competing devices (which they don't really compete against anyways). Or the other plausible explanation is that in the vacuum of real information, many fans endlessly speculate on upcoming products? If you want FUD campaigns, see what MS was doing in the 80s and 90s. The problem for MS is that it doesn't work any more.
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Always nice to know that Apple plant's stories (or exposes the media bias). I love how everytime some big iPad killer is announced, *someone* posts a story about the iPad mini. Remember the Nexus 7 launch? One week later there was a iPad mini that proved to be vaporware. At least this time it's BEFORE the launch of Win 8, so we'll see it was just a plant story of vaporware.
So Apple must have planted these stories even though their official stance has been "We don't comment on upcoming products." All the while they are orchestrating some media campaign to discredit competing devices (which they don't really compete against anyways). Or the other plausible explanation is that in the vacuum of real information, many fans endlessly speculate on upcoming products? If you want FUD campaigns, see what MS was doing in the 80s and 90s. The problem for MS is that it doesn't work any more.
Yup. It's classic PR. Just like those "supposed" lost iPhones, that happened *twice* around the time before it was soon released. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. They simply had someone in the company release to the media as a anonymous "trusted" source some BS about the iPad mini. So you're telling me the iPad mini was released when the Nexus 7 was? I haven't heard anything about it.
Apple is the world's best marketing company. You think they don't practice good marketing and PR?
And
As a consuming device (Score:2)
Microsoft and Android will have to fight a serious uphill battle against iPad. I have an iPad and love it to read material but as content creator (Even simple emails), it sucks. The market is wide open to fill the content creation gap.
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"Microsoft and Android will have to fight a serious uphill battle against iPad. I have an iPad and love it to read material but as content creator (Even simple emails), it sucks. The market is wide open to fill the content creation gap."
I think it's the other way around. Unless it gets the patent courts on its side, Apple will have a serious battle maintaining its marketshare against the CheapPad or CheapTab makers. It might not seem obvious in the upmarket that's the US of A, but in other parts of the worl
OMFG!!! New Apple iPad Mini!!! (Score:3)
... quietly, somewhere at the Apple offices all records of and references to the iPod Touch are being destroyed.
A pox on both their houses (Score:3)
Between us, I suspect that whatever Apple chooses to do will wipe the floor with whatever Windows 8 ends up being, but I have a hard time making myself care either way.
Naw, not at all (Score:2)
iPad Mini market is clearly for home users looking for an entertainment platform.
Windows 8 tablets are aimed squarely at the enterprise crowd.
Simply put, iPad has had a slow adoption into the enterprise world due to a real lack of compatibility with the Microsoft systems STILL IN HEAVY usage in enterprise. People can shit on Microsoft all they want for no longer capturing the consumer market, but Microsoft is still king in enterprise. People bring an iPad into the office expecting a large amount of compro
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Yes enterprise users will switch in a heartbeat from 19in dual screen set ups to single 7" screen tablets *rolls eyes*
underdog? (Score:3)
That's a strange way to put it.
More accurate would be "...Microsoft has been unsuccessful in its more than 15 years of attempts at the mobile platform, despite its dominance in other sectors during that time."
Microsoft will accomplish something (Score:2)
Microsoft's efforts will at least accomplish something worthwhile: force Apple and Google to recognize the need for real applications like LibreOffice on tablets as opposed to just forcing users to accept a steady diet of media consumption and lightweight apps.
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First see if there really _is_ a need for something as heavy as xxxOffice on an unsuitable form factor.
Add a bluetooth keyboard, mouse and stand (Xoom portfolio case works great) and there is nothing unsuitable about the form factor. Like a laptop, except: battery lasts 2-4 times times longer; way lighter; more compact even with the add-ons; also has touch screen.
I've got all that stuff and it's already useful, e.g., text chat 10x faster. Now I want the office suite.
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people that "want" to buy a tablet based on a specific software, i.e. Droid, IOS or win8 not included. Since they will buy what they actually want.
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"people that "want" to buy a tablet based on a specific software, i.e. Droid, IOS or win8 not included. Since they will buy what they actually want."
my original comment was made for general consumer's purchasing stand point, since the article insinuated that win8 buyers will switch to iPad.
you are entirely correct in saying that "being heavily invested in those other ecosystems" and that is the real issue MS has to deal with, late as they are to the market.
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A lack of apps buggers up the ARM version and a radical interface change isn't going to help sell the x86 desktop version.
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>>>What a stupid thing to say. I'm more likely to buy a Windows 8 tablet over the two current leaders as iOS is garbage (really, I don't know how anyone puts up with it), and I don't care for Android (I don't like the clunky UI and hate the pitiful dev tools). I seriously doubt that I'm unique.
Probably not unique given your current location (Washington, near Seattle, Microsoft cubicle). ;-)
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Not on the tablet, for the tablet.
Re:so? (Score:5, Funny)
After all, it's not every day that Apple releases a new product, especially one with amazing, unheard-of new features like a smaller screen and more pocket-friendly dimensions.
Apple's best in class innovation wins the day yet again!
Re:so? (Score:4, Interesting)
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They won't, but they will have perfected it.
See tablets pre-iPad, and tablets post-iPad.
Re:so? (Score:5, Insightful)
The point is that whether the iPad is any good or not, there was no market before the iPad. List all the Android tablets on the market prior to Spring of 2010.
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Re:so? (Score:5, Funny)
No, just the concept of 7.85" tablets. With a 2 minute-long movie in which Apple executives, on a white background, will describe the magic of those extra 0.85 inches.
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the magic of those extra 0.85 inches.
That's what she said!
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'It makes total sense. And that is exactly why we would never see any larger screen iPhone.'
http://gizmodo.com/5847981/this-is-why-the-iphones-screen-will-always-be-35-inches [gizmodo.com]
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I'm just waiting for Fandroids to claim that Apple claimed that they invented the concept of a ~7" tablet...
FTFY.
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Your forgetting the rounded rectangles. It's always the rounded rectangles.
In fact, for a while, it seemed like it was rounded rectangles all the way down.
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every time there is a launch event the share price jumps.
Re:so? (Score:4, Insightful)
Every time there is a launch event, the share price jumps in the days between the announcement of the event and the event itself as rumors run rampant, and then the price tanks after the event when the newly announced product doesn't have all of the unrealistic features that the analysts and fanboys predicted. The price then goes up slowly but steadily afterwards when the average consumer realizes that it is a pretty good product despite not having all those impossible features and the product sells like hotcakes.
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I'm inclined to agree. I can't tell what's less interesting (even to an Apple fanboy), an iPad Mini or a Windows 8 Tablet. I really truly thought the only reason Apple was going this way is so that it'd be a remote for the rumored Apple branded TV.
I get that, but I don't get a 7inch tablet, especially when most of the iPad owners I know are also smartphone owners.
Re:Win8 (Score:4, Funny)
The[sic] there's that name. Makes me think of urinate every time someone says it.
Probably best if I not tell you what I think when I hear the word 'pad'. -- Some woman
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Perhaps she meant this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs [youtube.com]
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Well, if you're going to shorten it, you can borrow W8 from me, that's what I've been calling it.
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But I don't want to W8. I want it NOW.
(I actually installed W8 on a Virtual Machine to try it out. Not too pleased with the Mobile interface on my big monitor.)
[John]
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> oh, and a bunch of "we always did it this way" guys would get fired and fade out of the picture.
That's what Microsoft needs to be relevant again, but I really don't see it happening. There'd have to be a significant shake-up in upper management to make it happen. And the problem there is, the people doing the shaking are the people who need to be shook.
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Office on Arm is a lie. Microsoft will never be able to port the full office suite to arm because the codebase is so bloated with decades-old windows specific bloat.
How do you know?
And why would "Windows-specific bloat" preclude porting something to ARM? So long as Windows itself runs on ARM, why would the app care about the architecture in the slightest?
The alternative? One of those new custom "windows only" intel SoCs. - These tablets will never sell well. They'll cost 899, weigh twice as much, have a boatload of carryover pc-isims that will make them useless as actual tablets, and will run maybe an hour and a half before running down their battery. And intel based windows tablet will never be as functional as an arm based one.
Did you actually look at the published specs? The Clover Field one that Asus has announced weighs 680 grams (for comparison, iPad is 650 g), and they declare 10 hours of battery life, same as for their ARM devices. You can say it's all lies, but we've already seen Intel (Medfield) phones running Android in production,
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Then you haven't been following this very well. WOA is not full Windows, it does not have all the Win32 API, it does not have all the Windows features, in particular it only has the 'Metro' UI and not the UI of Windows 7*.
I have been following this well enough - certainly closer than you, since I'm well aware that Windows on ARM does have the classic desktop [msdn.com] ("UI of Windows 7").
What it does is specifically preclude third-party programs from running on that desktop, by checking signatures in the binaries. So for you, yes, you cannot just recompile stuff, you have to rewrite them as Windows Store apps. Your claim about Win32 API is the same thing - yes, it is severely restricted, in Store apps. Not on the desktop.
So, yes, WoA
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Parent has it right, but there's even more to it than that. For one thing, it's bloody obvious that WOA / Windows RT has a full Win32 API; what the hell do you (the GP) think that Explorer and IE10 and cmd.exe and Task Manager and Office RT (or whatever it's called) and all those other hundreds of Win32 binary programs that ship on it are running against? In fact, I'm quite sure there's nothing that actually stops Windows Store apps from using it, except
A) they run with extremely restricted permissions, so
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And MS doesn't give a shit. License costs are license costs no matter what the OS is doing.
Not much of the world is particularly 'creative' - but as long as they have a checkbook, then Ballmer is a happy camper.
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Most of those Microsoft Windows based PCs are actually doing boring tasks like cash registers, data entry, surveillance, systems control, etc. They aren't being used by people for more creative tasks.
Y'know, I gotta admit, I wonder about this.
Apple sold a bunch of iPads to United Airlines to replace a bunch of flight logs, maps, etc. [apple.com] My local sustainable seafood place uses an iPad for a cash register. A local hip tea place has iPads mounted on the wall so you you can sit and drink your tea while surfing the web. I've heard of them being used by wait-people at restaurants, though haven't encountered any.
So how many iPads are actually being used by consumers and how many of them are being used as one-t
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