∞ Microsoft won't have an iPad OS competitor until 2012

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Things really aren’t looking good Microsoft as the company tries to compete in the tablet market. A new report says they won’t have a tablet operating system ready until mid-2012.

[ad#Google Adsense 300x250 in story]Testing of Microsoft’s next-generation operating system, which is said to be more touch friendly for tablets, will not start until the end of 2011, according to Bloomberg. That would put the OS in the hands of tablet manufacturers sometime in the back-to-school shopping season of 2012.

The news clearly shows how much Microsoft was unprepared for Apple’s release of the iPad and iOS. If Microsoft had any inkling of where the market was going, they surely would have been ready before now with a tablet operating system.

Microsoft’s news comes just a couple of days after Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced the second generation iPad in San Francisco. This is Apple’s second major tablet release before most companies even have their first tablet out the door.

At this rate, Microsoft will surely be competing against the iPad 3 or even worse. Apple could be on the verge of the iPad 4 before Microsoft gets its operating system out the door.

The news for other competitors wasn’t good this week either. RIM on Friday said its chief marketing officer, Keith Pardy, was leaving the company just weeks before the PlayBook was due to be released.



  • Steven Fisher

    I can’t imagine they’ll have a real competitor in 2012 either.

  • Neruwinds

    Life can be tough for a reverse-engineer without an imagination to invent for themselves… Cry a tear.

    • https://me.yahoo.com/a/qJDryvoEhIjGtA2dj4aHrLkq7FQfZ16q0g--#47896 The Cappy

      I’m enjoying the thought of someone at Microsoft with that as his job title: “Reverse Engineer”.

  • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

    But… Ballmer said they’re all PCs. Shouldn’t they already know how to do this?

    No wonder so many people are encouraged to hate Apple. As though they’re the only kid in the class who did the reading and homework for the day. Because they are.

    Meanwhile, the Windows Phone team is waiting for a phone call that will never come.

  • http://www.basilweb.net Anonymous

    And who knows what RIM will have announced by then!

    • Anonymous

      RIM, Android, Apple. by 2012 the war could be over. The market so flooded by these folks that Microsoft would be lucky to get half a percent.

      Frankly they should give up and refocus on other areas.

      • Anonymous

        I think Apple has demonstrated that you can enter a mature market and turn things upside down. The problem is, you need to do so with an innovative product that leaves the competition scrambling to catch up. The iPhone would be an example of this. The problem for Microsoft is that being late to the game with an also ran product isn’t going to do much for you. Especially if your tablets have to cost much more money because they need extra hardware to run a bloated OS and software not designed for tablets.

    • Arnold Ziffel

      RIM will announce a minimum of six more iPad-like devices…

      …and they’ll still be trying to ship their first Praybook.

      • Dilbert A

        lmao

        thanks

  • His Shadow

    Is it weird that I feel sorry for Microsoft? I mean, just consider the resources at their disposal and the examples from competitors they have to copy. Kind of sad.

  • Hikerca

    Bankruptcy?

  • Anonymous

    If Apple would release another version of the ipad in the fall (ipad pro) with huge specs, it would completely bury the competition.

  • http://twitter.com/tsfroggy tsfroggy

    One of Apple’s best strategies is their convergence process for all of their OSes. If Microsoft is really serious about creating an iPad competitor, they should be willing to focus all of their energy on improving the Windows Phone 7 OS.

    The problem with all these companies is they release devices that are “iPhone/iPad killers” and then give up support of them months later. Samsung Instinct anyone?

  • Gustav

    Why should they bother? They’re a software company. If MS was smart, they’d make a version of Office for iPad.

    • S.Mulji

      That would be suicide. Office is what keeps Windows alive. To port Office to iPad would kill whatever chance MS has in the “post-pc” space.

      Office is MS’s secret weapon. That’s why even though they’re behind they still have a big chance of catching up because of Office.

      Having said that, I agree MS should make a version of Office for iPad. It comes down to politics.

      • http://twitter.com/Moeskido Moeskido

        I will bet you that there’s a manager at Microsoft who’s trying to pitch the idea of selling Office for iPad as another way to make buckets of cash off Apple users, the same way Office for Mac does.

      • http://twitter.com/tsfroggy tsfroggy

        Your post is a bit… overblown. Office doesn’t keep Windows alive, the Windows platform keeps Windows alive, with Office being a small part of it.

  • Anonymous

    Ballmer will approve, only if they have a touch-equivalent for Control+Alt+Delete.

  • Anonymous

    You mean a dedicated hardware button for Control+Alt+Delete?