MS still sees Windows passing Android in tablets

Android won't overtake Windows in the tablet arena, Microsoft corporate VP Steve Guggenheimer claimed at Computex today. He was convinced Windows would have more traction as, despite the sheer number of Android tablets at the trade show, the market was still too young for any positions to be settled down. There are "always lots of noises" when a new class of device launches, Guggenheimer told the WSJ.

Android to him is an experiment that would be given up once Windows 7 was seen as more valuable. The VP also sowed doubt by implying that Linux-based platforms weren't truly free and that Microsoft was reliable.

The executive cited the example of netbooks. In 2007 and early 2008, the Eee PC and other netbooks usually ran a Linux variant to save on price but gave way to Windows XP as user demand changed. "It was 95 percent not on Windows, and three years later it is 95 percent on Windows," he said.

Guggenheimer didn't mention that Microsoft had deliberately taken a loss on Windows XP licenses for netbooks to make sure the OS would overtake Linux, whose free licensing and low development left Windows netbooks as much as $30 to $60 more expensive for the builder. Rumors have further accused Microsoft of joining Intel to pressure Taiwanese firms into emphasizing Windows tablets at Computex at the expense of Android or Linux tablets using Android. No direct confirmation has surfaced so far, but ASUS didn't mention an Android Eee Pad expected by many while MSI cast doubt on Android by refusing to commit to a launch where one was already set for the Windows model.

The Microsoft observations came just as doubts existed as to whether either it or Google would overtake Apple. Microsoft has been unsuccessfully trying to spur on tablet PCs as mainstream since 2001 but may have already been undone by Apple, which just sold two million iPads in as many months and could be on track to outsell the combined Windows tablet market in 2010.

By Electronista Staff