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Not only is Microsoft going into the hardware business, but it looks as if it is limiting its competition – at least initially. Interestingly enough, the company allowed the chipset makers to make the decision as to who was going to get to make the devices.
Unwired View reports that Microsoft let NVIDIA, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, each a major Windows RT ARM chipset vendor, choose two partners each to bring to the Windows RT dance. NVIDIA chose Lenovo and Asus. Texas Instruments chose Toshiba and Qualcomm asked Samsung and HP. HP has since dropped out so the speculation is that Dell may be Qualcomm’s second partner. The initial OEM tablets from this crew should be out October 26th.
According to Engadget Microsoft will open the market to other vendors in January. Depending on how initial sales of the Surface and its sanctioned siblings from Lenovo, Asus, Toshiba, Samsung and maybe Dell, other companies will then start making Windows RT tablets. It will be interesting to see if HP’s decision not to manufacture the Windows RT tablets was the right one or not.
No word yet on whether Microsoft is going to limit the number of OEM manufacturers of the Windows 8 Pro tablet to be built using the Intel processor. The Windows RT version of the Surface tablet will be released several weeks before the Windows 8 Pro version and is expected to be the more affordable of the two new Microsoft tablets. Presumably, the same will hold true of the other Windows 8 Pro tablets that will be manufactured by other vendors.
Microsoft is planning on including its new version of Office on its Windows RT based Surface right out of the box. It will be interesting to see if the other OEM vendors will do the same. For those who neither need nor want all of the extra “computing power” expected in the Windows 8 Pro tablets, having Office available on the RT version could be the deciding factor when someone is looking at purchasing an Android or iOS tablet or this one. Having the ability to quickly update Office documents without having to lug around even an ultraportable laptop could be enough to tip the scales.
As someone who is thinking about getting a tablet, I haven’t jumped on the iPad or any of the Android tablets because I want to see if the new Windows 8 based tablets will offer me more flexibility and integration with my Windows based computing environment. While being able to read books and watch movies is nice, I would also like to be able to get a little work done without having to lug around a laptop. Maybe this will be the perfect device I’ve been waiting for.
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