Microsoft tries horizontal board computer again: Want to compete with iPad

Leading Speech: Foreign media today wrote that although Microsoft’s performance in the hardware market has been mixed, in the face of Apple’s strong rise, the company may have to venture to challenge the iPad through its own brand of tablets.

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Just around the corner

Since the Apple iPod reformed the music industry, Microsoft executives have been eager to produce their own consumer electronic devices.

The iPod simplifies the music player's operating experience with a simple turntable interface. Inspired by this model, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at the time that to really challenge Apple, the company may have to develop more hardware.

Today, seven years have passed and the time may be ripe. According to informed sources, the world's largest software company has been actively preparing its own brand of tablet computers, ready to compete with the iPad. Recalling the development of the PC industry in the past 30 years, this move will mark a major transformation. However, as Apple gradually threatens Microsoft's business model for survival, this may be a last resort.

Microsoft is expected to unveil the mystery of this product on Monday. However, the specific theme of the conference is that the media that received the invitation letter at the last moment have still been kept in the dark. However, from all sources, if Microsoft has decided to compete with Apple, at least it has learned some lessons from its opponents.

A person familiar with the matter said that Microsoft plans to display a tablet computer that will compete with the Apple iPad. Another person familiar with the situation said that Microsoft has begun testing hardware vendors for its own branded tablet PCs. There are also reports that this device will debut on this Monday.

Microsoft had previously tested the water hardware business several times, but it was mixed. Although the company’s keyboard and mouse business has performed well for a long time, the Zune music player has not successfully challenged the iPod. The fate of the Xbox game console is much better, despite the fact that it has cast a shadow over Microsoft due to hardware failures.

Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent market research company, believes that past performance highlights a major risk for Microsoft’s own-brand hardware products. He said: "Windows is too important. They can't risk bad user experience."

put all one's eggs in one basket

But Microsoft may have no choice but to desperately. A new generation of Windows 8 systems, due to be released later this year, will be dedicated to a version for low-power ARM chip architectures. The product, named Windows RT, marks the first time that Microsoft has broken away from the Intel microblogging architecture to break the Wintel alliance. This also makes it possible for Windows tablets to challenge the iPad on battery life.

However, Microsoft will have to face another problem. Due to the new hardware architecture, Windows RT is not compatible with any previous versions of Windows. This also breaks the so-called "backward compatibility" policy, which is not only difficult to attract users to upgrade, but also causes hardware manufacturers to lack confidence in launching new tablet computers.

Richard Doherty, an analyst at Evisioneering, a market research firm, believes that this is enough to explain why Microsoft has launched its own brand of tablet computers. Independent development of hardware can demonstrate Microsoft's commitment to the system while attracting other companies to develop similar products.

But Al Hilwa, an analyst at market research firm IDC, believes that this move may anger Microsoft's PC partners. However, he also admitted that this may be the only way to motivate hardware vendors.

Even if Microsoft really launches a tablet computer, it really has a long way to go to compete with the iPad. iPad has launched the third generation of products and attracted a large number of imitators. The initial release of Windows RT tablets will lack adequate software support, especially compared to the iPad — ironically, this is precisely the disadvantage Apple had when it competed with Microsoft. At that time, the Windows PC was very rich. Third-party applications have attracted users.

To overcome this shortcoming, Microsoft announced that it will integrate Office software on Windows RT tablets. Silva believes that due to Monday's launch at the entertainment center in Los Angeles, it is possible to simultaneously announce cooperation with movie or book content providers to enhance the attractiveness of Windows RT tablets.

Challenging the iPad is a daunting task, but since Microsoft has long been on the hardware market, it may be time to take a bold step. (books)