Sluggish Android Tablet Growth May Give Microsoft an Opening

theodp writes "In NASCAR, you can finish a race in the Top 3 by leading the whole way or by having spectacular crashes take out those ahead of you. The same may hold true for the tablet race, where Apple has led the whole way, but Microsoft could advance into 2nd or 3rd place as those once ahead of it crash and burn. 'Microsoft tablets based on Windows 8 won't be ready until next year,' notes SplatF's Dan Frommer. 'Unexpectedly, that might not be too late to matter.' Far-fetched as it may seem, Ars Technica's Peter Bright explains why the Windows 8 tablet invasion might work."

Seriously?

[WrongSizeGlass]

Could we see something similar in 2012 between 'Jean Girard' Jobs and 'Ricky Bobby' Ballmer?

No. 2012 is not the year that the final decision on tablets will be made. Just a little insight for ya', but Android is not going to sit idly by and wait a few years before finding and growing their niche in the tablet market. That kind of strategy may work for companies that think they can't fail because they have a large enough war chest to survive a war of competitive attrition, but Android isn't a sloth-like, relatively static codebase that's hoping others die before stepping in. And let's not forget that given another year Apple will have their next iPad on the market (and who knows what else). Apple is trying to create dependancies between its phone, tablet and entertainment products much the same way that MS made Windows + Office a dominant combination. Until MS can enter the market with strong ties and motivation for users to buy multiple MS phones, tablets and other entertainment products they will not be "racing to the finish line" with Apple, Android and whoever else jumps into the marketplace.

Windows 8 - the new "Hail Mary"

[tomhudson]

Even Microsofties are now saying "Wait for the unified world of WP8".

In the meantime, Apple continues to sell every tablet they can make, no discounting.

And Android smartphones outsell everyone else.

The "Unified world" will be a divided one - Android smartphones and tablets, and Apple smartphones and tablets. There is no room for a #3 (just like on the desktop, or we would have had a "year of the linux desktop" already) unless you consider < 1% to be "success".

Re:Seriously?

[goose-incarnated]

I beg to differ: Google is moving at a snails pace in allowing devs from all over the world to market android apps. MS, for all their idiocy and frankly disgusting litigious nature, have already accepted devs from the majority of countries in the world to put paid apps on its store even though the platform isn't even properly ready yet!!!

There is one thing that Microsoft frequently gets right that Google can learn from - Developers! Developers! Developers. I did bitch and moan about this (and no doubt will continue to do so) on my blog (see sig if you're *really* interested).

Re:Well. WIndows 8 tables and andorid tablets diff

[goose-incarnated]

Yes, they do differ - Android has all the strengths and WP7 has all the weaknesses

(Seriously, no multi-tasking? No programs can run in the background and notify the user when something happens? "Tiles" are laughable replacements for notification icons)