Microsoft Partners Say Microsoft Tablet Would Be Tricky

Microsoft may be planning to build its own branded tablet, according to a Wednesday report from DigiTimes. Microsoft has never been known for hardware, although the company has been successful with the Xbox 360. But Microsoft's other forays into hardware, including the Zune media player and Kin smartphones, did not go as well.

Bob Nitrio, CEO of Ranvest Associates, an Orangevale, Calif.-based technology consultant, doesn’t see anything in Microsoft's hardware history to suggest that a Microsoft-built tablet would be a success in the marketplace.

"I have never been very enthusiastic about hardware that Microsoft has created. It's a question of focus: Is this a part of their core competency? I don't think so," Nitrio said

Microsoft also trails tablet market leaders by a wide margin and hasn't shown an ability to create game-changing mobile devices, said Ken Winell, CEO of ExpertCollab, a Microsoft solution provider in Florham Park, N.J.

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

"Not having a tablet will hurt Microsoft in the long run, but so would trying to bring something to market in the slow and fragmented way that they have in the past," Winell said.

Winell thinks Microsoft's goal might be to create a tablet to establish specifications for partners to manufacture their own hardware, thereby avoiding the problem of one OS running on multiple tablet form factors.

This approach would fit with Microsoft's partner model, while Microsoft making its own tablet would not. Microsoft also needs to consider whether building a tablet would have a negative impact on its PC market partners, said Andrew Brust, CEO of Microsoft analyst firm Blue Badge Insights, based in New York City.

"With a tablet, you're talking about a product that can serve as an alternative to a PC. Messing with the established OEM business model in a way that could displace the PC is tricky and something that wouldn't make sense in my opinion," said Brust.

There is a case to be made for Microsoft building its own tablet, however. As Apple has shown, controlling the hardware and software experience and tightly integrating the two can lead to hot-selling devices.

"One reason the iPad has been so successful is because Apple designs both the hardware and software. That is a place where Google has struggled with Android," said Tyler Dikman, president and CEO of CoolTronics, a Tampa, Fla.-based solution provider.

Dikman is bullish on the idea and thinks a Microsoft branded tablet would be a way to create the same sort of end-to-end experience that has benefitted Apple and hurt Android. "If Microsoft want to stay on top, they have to get with the times, and the times say build a tablet," he said.