We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to - Somerset Maugham
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Toshiba to launch Windows and Android tablets
JAPANESE ELECTRONICS FIRM Toshiba has decided that bringing out tablets is the way to continue its sharp increase in sales.
The company witnessed a 50 per cent surge in US sales in the first quarter of 2010, with the world's fifth biggest PC maker pushing 1.5 million units out of its doors between January and March in the US alone. According to Jeff Barney, the firm's general manager for digital products, the figures were due to a "levelling" of selling prices, which had been decreasing for some time. Lower component costs also helped the firm post the exceptionally favourable figures.
Barney also announced that Toshiba is considering a "variety of form factors" for its slate PCs and even mentioned a dual-screen model that would run Windows 7. Another unit will supposedly have a screen size of "roughly 10-inches", which is pretty much the same as Apple's Ipad.
Unlike Apple's overpriced toy, Barney said that prices will be similar to netbooks, but he also said that the models that run Google's Android operating system will be less expensive than those models that have to pay Microsoft's license fee for Windows 7.
Toshiba's enthusiasm for tablet devices apparently is unbounded with Barney stating that the firm sees that there is a market for such devices. Similarly industry thumb twiddlers In-stat said that "up to" 50 million of the devices will be shipped in 2014. To help its cause Toshiba also said it is lining up content partners.
At present the firm is only willing to say that its tablets will appear sometime this year, which is similar to what Dell and HP have said. µ
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I don't agree with points saying that Win7 tablets will automatically fail because its "software is not designed for touchscreen". The only reason that may be true now is the lack of touchscreen based win7 tablets. Once there's more, there will be more demand for win7 touchscreen apps, and developers will make more which will then damper that claim. Also, battery life will most likely improve over the next 5-10 years will improvements in screen tech, battery tech, memory and cpu shrinkage, etc. Yes, currently, Microsoft charges a premium for its OS, and risk losing market share in the short term to Android. However, if Win7 based tablets struggle, then Microsoft is wealthy enough to react with lower prices and/or special lower cost versions of their OS. In the meantime, Apple has only just begun shipping iPads, and Android based tablets are also just hitting the market. So, why would Microsoft not cash in on the higher royalty payments until the market dictates whether they need to react? They're taking a "wait and see" + "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" strategy at the moment. I wouldn't say they're doomed. They may have reacted too late by not getting Windows Mobile 7 out in time to compete with Android, but the tablet market is just ready to heat up... or maybe not at all... only the future knows that.
Because M$ decided a traitorous libel to Intel. Intel will use its own MeeGo instead.
@FailOR: I didn't say that Microsoft Windows will disappear altogether. It will just not be the dominant computing device for the masses.
If you're doing content creation, rendering or simulations, you will still need a desktop workstation. But most people don't need this.
Today's portable devices running on ARM processors do all that the majority of people need in a computer. Surf net. Check email. Games. Video chat. Social networking. ARM does this easily, and more efficiently than Intel/x86.
We're going to see more and more ARM based devices on the market, running non-Windows OSes, as Microsoft has really lost the portable devices market.
Android will become the most popular OS for accessing the net. There is no longer any doubt.
You like making dramatic proclamations, don't you, Jitterbug?
Windows is a LONG way from failing. Windows OS (albeit it XP in many cases, 7 in newer cases) is still in a faraway majority of consumer computers around the world.
In past times, Microsoft realised it needed to pitch to different markets and came up with Xbox. Granted it has been slow and lame with improving its OS - Vista was a disaster, 7 *does* begin to redress that, but for the first time in ages a general shift in people towards mobile computing may allow new players to seriously enter the market.
And your comments about Win7 not being designed for touch screen are just wrong. There will also always be people who need full x86 power while mobile. Development of improved mobile CPU's, better batteries and possibly memristors may still make a fully mobile computer competitive with the more limited use devices.
I'm still intrigued to see more entrants into all OS markets, but it's a LONG way to go before you write off Windows.
Toshiba also said it is lining up content partners.
Apple is lining up content partners.
M$ is lining up content partners.
Google does not have to - it's ads are everywhere.
Any person who would exchange the control of a keyboard for convenience deserves neither.
Now I can have all the toshiba goodness, AND without windows, all for, say, $400. Seems like a good upgrade from AAO. Would probably install Ubuntu on it as a primary OS anyway though.
Any tablet running Windows 7 will fail.
Here's why:
*Windows 7 software is not designed for touch screen
*Windows 7 requires an x86 processor, which means it will be a heat-belching device, requiring cooling fansf
*Any Windows 7 device will drain your batter down very fast.
Google's Android will work well on "slates" or "pads". Android was designed for a touch interface. Its software was designed for touch. Android runs on the energy-efficient ARM processor. A well designed Android / ARM device should achieve over 10 hours battery life, even more if they use new screen technology.
They either give me my stuff free with commercials or I'll get torrents without commercials.
That model works for tv, why the hell can't it work for these things? Besides, they can offer fewer commercials for more profit per commercial simply by convincing people to hand over their credit card details, then advertising to that particular person based on their purchasing habits.
I wonder if it's a modern system without multitasking and without USB ports they have in mind.