Windows 8 tablets are bad business

Microsoft’s Surface Pro has company, with Lenovo revealing its own Windows 8 slate, the ThinkPad Tablet 2, targeting the all-important enterprise segment. Like the higher-spec Surface, Lenovo’s new tablet has content-creation features like a digital pen and all the remote management your IT team demands; it also has the more flexible full version of Windows 8, rather than Windows RT. And, like Microsoft, Lenovo is playing pricing cards close to its chest. One thing is already becoming clear, however: Windows 8 may well struggle to compete in business markets.

While official numbers are in short supply, Lenovo’s intentions are likely to be in keeping with Microsoft’s own estimates. The Windows maker said it planned to offer the Surface Pro at a price akin to an ultrabook, figured to mean a $699+ sticker. With similar specifications under the hood, the ThinkPad Tablet 2 will probably amount to the same, options depending.

Unfortunately, Apple’s iPad already has a head start, even if it wasn’t originally intended for business users. The iOS tablet may not have been designed with enterprise in mind – there’s no biometric security, no digital pen – but what it lacks in tailoring it makes up with ubiquity, and that counts for a lot. Individual users and IT departments alike are familiar with the iPad, and while it demands compromises, they’re already a known quantity.

“Microsoft has purposefully crippled Windows RT to leave a market for Windows 8”

Microsoft’s segment positioning may well prove the downfall to competing with all that. The entry-level Surface is expected to be competitive with the iPad – the unofficial guesstimate is around $499+ – but runs Windows RT rather than Windows 8. That version will be cheaper, certainly, but Microsoft has purposefully crippled it so as to leave a market for Windows 8 and the machines the full OS will run on.

Apple’s price advantage and dominance of the tablet segment are therefore balanced against Microsoft and Lenovo’s more suited specifications and Windows familiarity, each of which come with a price disadvantage. Lenovo could try to upset that balance by undercutting Surface and trying to bring its Windows 8 model closer to the iPad, but that’s a considerable challenge given the hardware. Intel processors and the graphics, memory and storage to go with them generally add up to a more expensive machine than an ARM-based tablet such as Apple’s; we’re basically talking keyboardless ultrabook, with extra thrown in if you want the optional pen.

Microsoft’s two new versions of Windows might look like they increase flexibility, but OEMs may well find they’re an inadvertent pincer-movement, trapping them between locked-down consumer functionality or something that’s comes enterprise-ready but at a cost. That sort of premium is easy to explain if you’re first to the market, but Windows faces all the challenges of following not one but two high-profile platforms into a segment where some might argue that consumers have already picked their winner. It’ll take more than a stylus and a slick new UI to address that.


Windows 8 tablets are bad business is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


NVIDIA Q2 earnings bounce back through Tegra: $119 million profit on $1.04 billion in revenue

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NVIDIA’s fiscal performance in its second quarter shows the rewards of patience in the mobile sphere. It just saw its profit double versus a glum first quarter to $119 million, even though the company only slightly edged ahead in revenue to $1.04 billion. In explaining the success, the company is quick to point to a confluence of events that all worked in favor of its bank account: a slew of Tegra 3 phones and tablets like the Transformer Pad TF300 made NVIDIA’s quarter the brightest, but it could also point to a much-expanded GeForce 600 line on the PC side and the shipments of the first phones with NVIDIA-badged Icera chips. The graphics guru expects its revenue to climb more sharply in the heat of the third quarter as well — between the cult hit Nexus 7 tablet and a role as a major partner for Windows RT, NVIDIA has at least a temporary license to print money.

Continue reading NVIDIA Q2 earnings bounce back through Tegra: $119 million profit on $1.04 billion in revenue

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NVIDIA Q2 earnings bounce back through Tegra: $119 million profit on $1.04 billion in revenue originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Office RT may lack macros, add-ins, other features

Microsoft Office RT may lack macros, add-ins, other features

Well, the good news, as you already know, is that Office RT will be preloaded on all Windows 8 RT tablets — at least in preview form. The bad news, even if you spring for the full version, you may be dealing with a limited product. Word on the street is, that in order optimize performance and battery life, Microsoft pulled a number of features from the ARM-friendly version of its productivity suite. Among the missing features is support for macros, third-party add-ins and VBA scripts. A small number of other features are also reportedly on the chopping block, but without a final product to put our fingers on, it’s not clear which ones are getting axed.

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Microsoft Office RT may lack macros, add-ins, other features originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows RT tablets to arrive with Preview versions of Office 2013 RT

For Microsoft consumers, all roads lead to the day when the Redmond-based tech giant will officially release its first line of Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. While everyone waits for that day, we are hearing reports that Microsoft is planning to strip off certain features of its Office 2013 for Windows RT devices. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans are saying that the company will be shipping a Preview version of Office 2013 for Windows RT tablets later this year, with the option to update to the full version of the productivity suite sometime next year.

The reason for this, according to the sources, is to ensure that the battery life and reliability of Microsoft’s Windows RT tablets will not be affected. Among the features that will be reportedly excluded from Office 2013 for Windows RT are macros, third-party add-ins, VBA support, and a small number of other features. Microsoft has to yet to comment about the report, although a company spokesperson said that the packaging has not yet been finalized.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Microsoft releases Office Store for Office 2013, Microsoft introduces Excel 2013,

Microsoft officially leaving Windows 8 Metro brand in the dust

Microsoft confirmed today that it will indeed be ditching the Metro branding for Windows 8, and said it plans to introduce a new brand sometime later this week. We had a feeling that something like this was going to happen, thanks to this week’s leak of internal Microsoft memos which signaled such a change. Apparently, Microsoft’s decision to dump the branding comes from talks with “an important European partner” that left the company without much choice in the matter. To put it simply, Microsoft probably picked the term “Metro” without realizing that one its partners already held the trademark.


So, now Windows 8 will get a bit of new branding. Metro was the term Microsoft used to describe the design and feel of Windows 8 and Windows RT, and don’t expect the phrase to disappear overnight. Microsoft hit the ground running with this branding, mentioning the name Metro at every chance. Now that the term Metro has been used so much, it’s going to be incredibly hard for Microsoft to flush it from the minds of those who have been following the development of Windows 8.

ComputerWorld points out that the “important European partner” may be Germany-based Metro AG. The company is the fifth-largest retailer in the world, so it isn’t hard to imagine why it might be upset with Microsoft’s choice of branding in this instance. Neither company will confirm nor deny this speculation, and Microsoft says that this change was not brought on by litigation. If the two companies were at odds over the Metro brand, Microsoft seems to have diffused the situation before it ended up in a court room.

We won’t be waiting long for this new brand to arrive, as Microsoft’s announcement that it will be coming “this week” means that the company will be revealing it either later today or tomorrow. Once this new brand arrives, expect Microsoft to begin using it as much as humanly possible. We’ll have details on this new brand for you once Microsoft makes its announcement, so keep it tuned right here to SlashGear.


Microsoft officially leaving Windows 8 Metro brand in the dust is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Microsoft admits that Surface may hurt partner relations

Microsoft is taking quite a risk by producing and releasing its own Windows 8-based tablet. While the company maintains that it isn’t trying to compete with its OEM partners, Acer has been vocal about the move, with reports also indicating that manufacturers weren’t exactly thrilled with the Surface announcement. In a new document submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission discovered by the New York Times, Microsoft admitted that the releases of its own tablet could weaken support among its Windows partners.

Microsoft details in the document how its “Surface devices will compete with products made by our OEM partners, which may affect their commitment to our platform.” Microsoft maintains that Surface is meant to spur interest in Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets, although OEMs were miffed by the announcement as they reportedly had no foreknowledge of the event.

Not only that, Microsoft allegedly met with various OEMs to check in on their tablet plans, revealing the Surface a few short weeks later, perhaps a subtle dig at the plans that partners had for their own hardware. Microsoft’s way of handling the situation has reportedly left partners with a bad taste in their mouths, although plenty of hardware from the likes of ASUS and Samsung remains on track for a release later in the year.

[via Engadget]


Microsoft admits that Surface may hurt partner relations is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Windows 8 streamlines printing, puts old architecture on the chopping block

Windows 8 streamlines printing, puts old architecture on the chopping block

Anyone who’s ever attempted to configure a new printer from their PC knows the process can be cumbersome at best and Microsoft largely agrees. So, in anticipation of its upcoming OS refresh, Redmond’s pulling back the curtain on how it managed to trim the fat from its previous printing architecture. The new system which will underlie both consumer-focused iterations of Windows 8, simply dubbed v4, slims down the 768MB of disk space previously required on Vista for a significantly lighter 184MB (an average) footprint in Windows 8 and adds greater in-box support for more commonly used, contemporary printers — specifically for Windows RT. The team’s also worked hard to keep the experience consistent, separating manufacturer UIs from drivers and paving the way for Metro-style support where necessary. The changes will reportedly ease the load on ARM-based devices and streamline the end user experience with a hassle-free, plug-and-play approach. In the words of team program lead Adrian Lannin, “it just works.” Indeed, we’ll be sure to find out if it does this October 26th. Hit up the source below to sift through the minutiae of these behind-the-scenes changes.

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Windows 8 streamlines printing, puts old architecture on the chopping block originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel porting Jelly Bean to its Atom architecture, is in no hurry to tell you when it’s done

Intel working on Atomflavored Jelly Beans for portable devices

Intel has revealed that it’s working on bringing Jelly Bean to its low-power Atom architecture. In an email to PC World, company rep Suzy Greenberg confirmed the project was ongoing, but didn’t offer a timeline as to when the latest flavor of Google’s mobile OS would arrive on a device. It’s the same story regarding when Ice Cream Sandwich would turn up on Medfield-powered devices like the San Diego and its brethren. The report also pours cold water on hopes for Clover Trail powered Android gear — saying that it’s pencilled in as a Windows 8-only platform.

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Intel porting Jelly Bean to its Atom architecture, is in no hurry to tell you when it’s done originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell aiming for HP’s abandoned place in Windows RT tablet OEM lockdown

Dell is reportedly jockeying to join the Windows RT tablet club, petitioning Microsoft to take HP’s spot in the strictly-controlled roster of companies permitted to create ARM-based Windows slates. With HP dropping out of RT development in favor of focusing on Windows 8 models instead, Dell is in talks to replace it, the China Times reports, seemingly confirming previous reports that Microsoft is putting a six-company limit on who can build one of the first wave of Windows RT tablet models (including its own Surface).

Back in December, rumors broke that Microsoft had focused its Windows-on-ARM development on three chipset companies: NVIDIA, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. Each of those three was encouraged to pick at most two manufacturers to work with on Windows RT tablets, with NVIDIA said to have opted for ASUS and Lenovo, Qualcomm for Samsung and HP, and Texas Instruments for Toshiba.

That leaves companies like Acer and Sony out in the cold, and at the time Dell as well, though the company is now believed to be targeting HP’s spot working with Qualcomm. Although Microsoft’s own Windows RT tablet does present an unusual challenge in the marketplace, the relatively small number of OEMs involved could mean more attention for each.

Word of Microsoft’s strictness around the quality of proposed Windows RT hardware had already been surfacing. HTC, for instance, is believed to have suggested one system but had its plans rejected by Microsoft; the company is conspicuously absent from the launch line-up.

Windows RT – along with Windows 8 for x86 systems – is expected to arrive on October 26, though not all of the manufacturers involved will necessarily have RT-based slates at that point.

[via Unwired View; via Engadget]


Dell aiming for HP’s abandoned place in Windows RT tablet OEM lockdown is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Microsoft to Windows RT OEMs: ‘If your name’s not on the list, you’re not making a tablet’

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China Times is reporting that Microsoft is only letting an elite few companies build Windows RT tablets in order to focus its research and development resources. It reportedly asked three chipmakers to pick up to two OEMs to bring inside the tent, with NVIDIA grabbing ASUS and Lenovo, TI snagging Toshiba and Qualcomm selecting Samsung and HP. However, the latter company dropped out of the program to concentrate on x86 machines, so it’s rumored that Dell’s currently jockeying to take its place. The first wave of completed tablets will arrive on October 26th, and Redmond won’t open up the market until January next year — so expect Windows RT to be the buzz-word CES 2013.

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Microsoft to Windows RT OEMs: ‘If your name’s not on the list, you’re not making a tablet’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 03:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Unwired View  |  sourceChina Times (Translated)  | Email this | Comments