Windows 8 tablets: dead on arrival, too late to market

Microsoft's window of opportunity when it comes to tablets is closing. Release of Windows 8 is expected well into 2012, and businesses and consumers pine for tablets running the next-generation software - or they did. That is longer the case, Forrester analysts JP Gownder and Sarah Rotman Epps claim: Microsoft is too late to the party.

Windows 8 tablets will come in fifth after a host of other platforms, including the iPad and Android tablets, the struggling RIM PlayBook, and now defunct WebOS. Gownder and Epps say the tablet market is not forgiving to latecomers, which equals bad news for Microsoft.

Gownder argues that for a product to stand a chance of being successful, it needs to be a "fast follower". This means a competing product must come out quickly following its competitor to be able to have a good chance of toppling the incumbent.

"While Windows’ product strategists can learn from these products, other players have come a long way in executing and refining their products -- Apple, Samsung, and others have already launched second-generation products and will likely be into their third generation by the time Windows 8 launches", he says.

There's also other issues for Microsoft. Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which have combined the features of tablets with traditional e-readers, are examples. This muddies what is considered a tablet, while also putting significant price pressure on the entire industry.

All these factors contribute to a drop in consumer interest in Windows-based tablets. While some 46 percent were interested in such a device in the first quarter of 2011, that has since fallen to 25 percent. Gownder argues that Microsoft has missed the peak for consumer desire for its not-even-released product.

"For product strategists, Windows 8 tablets provide a cautionary tale: To be a fast-follower, you must amp up the experience -- and do so quickly, before the market changes beyond recognition", he says.

Photo Credit: forestpath/Shutterstock

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