According to Patrick Moorhead, president of Moor Insights & Strategy, Microsoft announced Surface out of a lack of faith in PC makers’ designs. From CNet:
“Microsoft looked at what the [PC makers] were doing, seeing if it could meet their Windows 8 needs and then took action based on that,” he said in a phone interview, citing conversations with senior level executives at top-tier PC makers.
Moorhead continued. “If Microsoft had seen compelling enough plans from [PC makers], they wouldn’t have needed to do this,” referring to the Surface launch.
It appears Microsoft is realizing that letting OEMs slap their software on any hardware is not helping their brand. I was happy to see how they established strict requirements for mobile handset makers looking to use Windows Phone. Maybe Microsoft is finally realizing that the best way to ensure the greatest experience is to own it from top-to-bottom.
From Gizmodo:
[…] Google’s going to announce a 7-inch, Nexus-branded tablet called the Nexus 7. According to the leak, it’s built by Asus, with a 1.3Ghz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, GeForce 12-core GPU and 1GB of RAM with two different storage variants: 8GB and 16GB.
[…] The screen is an IPS display with a 178-degree viewing angle, running a resolution of 1280 by 800. The device will also sport a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera. The battery will also give you 9 hours worth of operation.
[…] this could all prove to be an elaborate fake. We’ve seen them before and we’ll see them as long as there’s a rabid tech-loving public that will queue up around the block for value this good.
If true, this appears to be Google’s answer to Amazon’s Kindle Fire. If not, congrats to the those who caused tech reporters/bloggers to react excitedly.
John Gruber posted his own analysis on why Microsoft decided to ditch PC making OEMs and go solo creating Surface, their latest attempt at entering a tablet market dominated by Apple. The following snippet nails it :
Microsoft Surface is not fundamentally about Microsoft needing to control the entire integrated product in order to compete with the iPad on design. It’s about Microsoft needing to sell the whole thing to sustain its current profitability.
When Microsoft announced Windows 8, they showed that it contained both the familiar desktop environment, as well as Metro, their Windows Phone 7 tile interface. According to a recent column by Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft may scrap the desktop interface on the tablet version of Windows 8, only affording the user the Metro interface instead. From ZDNet:
However, if my Windows Weekly co-host Paul Thurrott is right, Microsoft has rethought that plan and is leaning toward cutting the Desktop from Windows 8 ARM tablets. That would mean only Metro-style apps would be supported on that platform. (Thurrott just dropped that bomb while we were taping Windows Weekly on December 1.)
While some writers—such as John Gruber—focused on the hardware issues faced with running classic Windows apps on an ARM tablet, my issue was actually using an interface not originally designed for touch. I have had the displeasure of operating both my Mac and Windows machines via Splashtop Remote on my iPad, and it is anything but productive. While I am sure the hardware is one reason to not support classic Windows apps on a tablet, for me the bad experience would be the main reason.