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| Acer delays Windows RT tablets |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-10-31 00:46:43 |
| "Taiwanese computer maker Acer is putting off the launch of tablets using Microsoft's new Windows RT operating system to give itself time to see how Microsoft's own Surface tablet fares. The world's No. 4 PC vendor by shipments initially planned to roll out Windows RT tablets based on ARM chips early next year. However, the launch of Microsoft's tablet last week and the mixed reviews it has drawn has prompted Acer to wait and see until at least the second quarter of 2013." Whatever the reason, this doesn't send a very promising message about Windows RT. Or, not entirely unlikely, Acer and other OEMs just can't measure up to Surface RT. |
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| Some Speculation |
| By boxy on 2012-10-31 02:48:38 |
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If I had to venture a guess, I'd say they might be waiting to see how many RT tablets are returned due to confused consumers thinking they got a full version of Windows that's compatible with all the existing Windows software. Maybe the plan is to let Microsoft spend the marketing dollars to sell Windows RT (albeit on Microsoft hardware) and the customer support dollars to explain why Windows RT won't run existing x86 software. Then, once Windows RT is established, they could come out with their own device and only spend marketing dollars instead of customer support dollars. Whatever the reason, I think it's smart to wait and see what happens with Microsoft's Surface before putting out a Windows RT device. If Windows RT and/or Surface fails to gain traction, they could probably just ship the hardware with Android instead (assuming they think it would be profitable to do so). In the end, though, who really knows? |
 - Score: 7 |
| RE: Some Speculation |
| By quackalist on 2012-10-31 03:56:08 |
| Smart? Seems a no-brainer not to throw money at an epic fail in the making. |
| - Score: 5 |
| RE: Some Speculation |
| By Lennie on 2012-10-31 09:19:26 |
| I wonder if they'll market x86 Windows 8 tablets for the consumer market also or just the business market. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Some Speculation |
| By Bill Shooter of Bul on 2012-10-31 13:02:15 |
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I think its kind of both problems: Windows RT is questionable They won't be able to match surface style at a simular price point. I'm not sure what I would be doing if I were a windows OEM these days, except maybe resurrect the swivel neck laptop/tablet. http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-PO... I wanted one of those, but not at the $2200 price point they originally sold for. |
| - Score: 3 |
| measure up? compete on price! |
| By chithanh on 2012-10-31 13:12:09 |
|
> Or, not entirely unlikely, Acer and other OEMs just can't measure up to Surface RT. This is expected and not surprising. Microsoft can undercut the OEMs by the $85 or so which the Windows RT license costs. And they had the ability to develop the tablet and the OS together. So an OEM who wants to compete against the Surface RT starts at a $85 disadvantage and is behind in development. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[2]: Some Speculation |
| By Alfman on 2012-10-31 13:51:07 |
|
Bill Shooter of Bul, "I wanted one of those, but not at the $2200 price point they originally sold for." I've always wanted one of those too, but not at the ridiculous price points they were going for. Imagine how different tablets would be today if those had been affordable for consumers at the turn of the decade. The tablet market would have grown before walled gardens could take off and we would not have this artificial divide between open desktop/laptops & restricted tablets. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE[3]: Some Speculation |
| By Bill Shooter of Bul on 2012-10-31 14:38:20 |
| EXACTLY!! MS pushed tablets as an ultra expensive luxury item with terrible performance and was shocked when they didn't take off. The same computer guts that went into the convertible I linked to, was available at less than half the price without the touch screen. |
| - Score: 4 |
| only M$OFT can afford to lose money |
| By 4biaggi on 2012-10-31 19:57:01 |
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Margins are so thin today that only M$SOFT can afford to lose money (a la XBOX); even HP wanted at some point to sell their PC business division! What an OEM already knows is that mid next year we'll see Haswell X86 at some 7W TDP; so, in the Windows space, ARM built machines are doomed to fail. Or, why would they succeed where AMD failed? The argument that ARM's are more energy efficient is eroding day after day. But thanks to ARM for waking Intel up! |
| - Score: 0 |
| We shall see on consumer confusion... |
| By brion on 2012-10-31 20:56:21 |
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I've got a Surface RT for testing and I knew what I was getting into... I'm still disappointed that you can't install anything on the desktop, especially for now when there's so few native Windows Store apps. Windows 8 gives you compatibility by installing other browsers, plugins, and existing Windows apps; Windows RT arbitrarily chooses not to give you that, even though Microsoft reserved it for themselves by making the desktop available (and then limiting it to core Windows apps and Office). It promises to be a 'dockable tablet' that turns into a 'real PC' when used with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, but unless IE and Office are your life it's going to be pretty limiting. On the plus side, if Intel keeps improving their power efficiency, we may simply see Windows RT fade into irrelevancy as the tablets and micro-laptops switch to Intel. This makes me a bit sad, as ARM *should* work great on these devices... it's only Microsoft's choice to limit the ARM version that makes it limited; there's nothing inherent to a processor switch that makes it impossible. (Rumor mill: ARM MacBook Airs in the next couple years with x86 app emulation and native ARM apps as fat binaries? Wouldn't surprise me one bit.) |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: Some Speculation |
| By ze_jerkface on 2012-11-01 01:04:24 |
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Don't worry, Microsoft fanboys are standing by to explain why you really want to pay $500 for a Windows tablet that can't run Windows programs and doesn't have Outlook. Oh and there are bugs as well. If Ballmer ran Ford: Ford today announced a new F150 4x4 that can't actually haul anything or go off-road. There also might be some engine issues that you have to deal with. Only $30,000, get in line today! |
| - Score: 3 |
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