Bold Call: Microsoft To Pass Android, Grab No. 2 Spot In Tablets Behind Apple

Forbes ^ | 6/01/2012 | Brian Caulfield

[SmokingJoe]

Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty upped her sales projections for the tablet computer market Thursday, and argued that Microsoft will grab the number two spot in the market, after Apple iPad and ahead of tablets running Google‘s Android software, with the launch of Windows 8 later this year.

Huberty and the tech team at Morgan Stanley are now estimating shipments of 133 million tablets in 2012, up 57% from their original estimates; and 216 million tablets in 2013, up 112%. No surprise there, tablet sales have been growing fast — despite high-profile stumbles by Hewlett-Packard and Dell — thanks to demand for Apple’s iPad tablet computer.

The bold call: Microsoft will grab a substantial chunk of the market with the introduction of Windows 8 later this year. “Our survey suggests 25% of users expect to buy Windows 8 tablet and Office is a key feature, especially for those considering their first tablet purchase,” Huberty and her team wrote in an analysis of the market released Thursday.

[Lazamataz]

Oh, and a cute aside. My very first text to all my friends when I got my first Blackberry:

"I have a blackberry.

It used to be pink."

[Blueflag]

I am a former crackberry user as well. Only harsh adjustment was loss of tactile keyboard. The Galaxy has a good sized soft keyboard though, especially in landscape mode.

[what's up]

We were Blackberry users and wanted a switch. We liked the Nokia Lumia (Windows) but you had to buy thru AT&T or Verizon. Unfortunately, neither has an unlimited data plan.

So we ended up going with the Galaxy and TMobile. The unlimited data (and Internet tethering) was a must.

[Lazamataz]

I plan to lug around a full size keyboard and plug it into my Galaxy. The Galaxy has an old-style PS2 keyboard plug, right?

[Blueflag]

LPT 1 parallel or DB9 serial only ;-)

[Rum Tum Tugger]

Of course, the MS tablet will be brown, and that will kill it regardless of the technological superiority, if any.

[Tzfat]

“Bold” is close. Insane is more like it. I have been a Windows developer for 20+ years. Windows 8 RT (the tablet variant) will be an unmitigated disaster. Windows 8 on desktop will as well. The branding confusion on the tablet variant will be a major source of buyer’s remorse (”what do you mean my new Windows 8 tablet won’t run my Windows programs - that is why I bought it !”). The bipolar switch from desktop to Metro to desktop will doom Windows 8 desktop to the dustbin along with Microsoft Bob, Windows ME, and Vista.

[UB355]

I use both iPod touch and a Kindle Fire. Use both Apple’s store and Amazon’s for Apps. A good number of Android apps that are in the Kindle/Amazon store are nowhere as polished as the Apps in the iTunes store. I would hate to have to dig through the Android Marketplace.

[UB355]

I use both iPod touch and a Kindle Fire. Use both Apple’s store and Amazon’s for Apps. A good number of Android apps that are in the Kindle/Amazon store are nowhere as polished as the Apps in the iTunes store. I would hate to have to dig through the Android Marketplace.

[TexasFreeper2009]

yep, that’s my experience exactly.

The Itunes store is in a whole other league. The Android Marketplace is better than the Barnes and Noble one but doesn’t even come close to matching Itunes.

[USNBandit]

I had a Uniden "palm pilot" type device that ran on a MS platform. It used to lock up all the time and then dump all the data every time you reset it or sync'd it. Completely useless.

If Apple wanted to make one improvement that would make me happy, it would be to drop iTunes as the link between iOS devices and desktops and come up with a different app that was more user friendly. One wrong box checked and it starts loading all your media up to your device.

I still thing these people are on crack to thing MS will surpass Android. As a previous poster pointed out, the success of iOS and Android is largely due to the online retail source for apps. If Microsoft doesn't make that happen they are in for Zune part II.

[Eye of Unk]

This will offend some but I am speaking not just for my self.

Many people are barely able to feed their families, barely having enough fuel money to get to work or just cannot find a job.
And being true conservatives will spit on the socialists handouts for loyalty ideology.

I gave up my Tracfone several months ago for a Galaxy S II, its a great piece of work, it actually helps me with my job and I thank the Lord for that....not Obama.

But still I just cannot comprehend where I would or could have the funds for the latest tablets or a new puter with the latest software, mine is old enough it uses Vista.

I’m just saying what I feel, when the idiot leave the Whitehouse and some normalcy returns to America maybe then I’ll see the need for a tablet, but for now I will defer to keep my kids fed, clothed and comfortable.

[dayglored]

Ya know, I really like Win7. I've had Windows, Mac OS-X, and Linux as my primary operating systems over the past decade or more. They all have their plusses and minuses.

With Win7, Microsoft finally produced an operating system that was the equal of OS-X in terms of stability, security, and usability. I've been using it 10 hours a day for years now at work, and finally I'm as at-ease with my work desktop as I have been (for longer) with my Mac at home.

And so what does Microsoft do when it's time for Win8? They blow Win7 sideways in yet another ill-advised effort to compete in the mobile/media space.

Microsoft's attempts to be relevant in that space remind me of two things:

1. MS as the domestic batterer. The dedicated Microsoft fanboys are the battered spouses. Every time some new MS mobile or media product comes out, the fanboys gush over it ("This is fabulous! This is the Apple-Killer!"), and when it falls on its face like all the previous ones, they pick themselves up and wipe the blood off their faces yet again. And the cycle repeats.

2. MS as the demented maniac, who personifies the definition:

   in-san-i-ty, n., Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

I really would like to see Microsoft succeed in the mobile/media space. But they'll have to get rid of Ballmer to do it. That man, and the business philosophy he has imposed on Microsoft, will never succeed. They can only stand on the top of their hill (the 90% desktop share) and fend of attackers.

With Win8, they've fallen off the hill, and will end up fighting in a space where they cannot compete as well. It will be interesting to see how Windows survives this poor decision.

For my part, I'm sticking with Win7 until hell freezes over.

[Melas]

Why would anyone be offended because you can’t afford a tablet? Either you intended a message that got lost in there somewhere, or there was absolutely nothing in your post that should offend anyone.

[livius]

I agree that ITunes can make you crazy. It wasn’t designed for what they want to use it for now.

[jdege]

Windows 8 is going to be a flop on a massive scale.

Not a “Windows Vista” kind of flop, but a “Windows Me” kind of flop.

[Revolting cat!]

Windows 8 is going to be a flop on a massive scale.

And the Super Lotto winning numbers are going to be?

[Wuli]

As an IT director I was forever disillusioned with Microsoft's vaporware marketing approach and upset with its bullying in the software industry.

Meanwhile, while always admiring the technology of Apple, I have never been a fan of Apple the company, and never saw amy of it's products as "mainstream" until the iPod, iTunes and iPad.

And, I have always been even less enamored of Google and more unfavorable toward Google than possibly any information technology company.

If mobile phones and tablets will be platforms for a stronger Microsoft against Apple and Google, the now dominant operating system players in those platforms, I will applaud the greater market competition.

Also, with the telecom service providers no longer willing to keep up the big subsidies to handset makers, maybe we will now also begin to see greater reduction in the unsubsidized retail prices for mobile phones and tablets.

[Jonty30]

I thought the window tiles were ugly as well, but now that I have a windows phone, I can see how useful the are.

[Jonty30]

I’ve left my Windows computer continuously on, just putting it to sleep when I don’t need it and it works flawlessly.