Microsoft Corp. has unveiled the first tablet that will run the Windows 8 to developers last Tuesday. Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows, showed off the device while presenting a number of features of the company’s new operating system, Windows 8, at the 2011 BUILD conference in Anaheim, California.
The company said that they will give out 5,000 units of the device to developers and while that is nice, the bigger picture is that the device could be a strong prototype of a consumer-focused Windows 8 machine.
This is Microsoft and Samsung’s first collaboration on a device. It seems that Microsoft’s partnership with Samsung is a smart move as the company has built Android-powered tablet PCs with excellent hardware.
Windows 8 is the first Windows version designed for the average consumer instead of business clients. The operating system is also the first Windows version that has been designed for finger touch operation. Windows versions in the past were best used with a styli.
Microsoft has been under pressure to release a new Windows version that can run smaller and thinner tablet PCs with a longer battery life, to compete with Apple’s iPad. The company is aiming to narrow the lead of Apple’s iPad in the tablet market.
“It’s very important for them to get this right,” said McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Sid Parakh. “They can’t compete with what’s out there today in tablets.”
Is Microsoft’s Windows tablet a big threat to Apple’s market dominance?
via: Information Week
