Bypassing all the usual media hype, the question of investors concerning Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is have they met a real PC market disruptor in the tablet, and is the tablet a fad or a trend.
With mobility being a strong part of technology focus at this time, it's apparent the tablet is more than just a fad, but a trend that should last for some time.
In the short term, it seems the threat to Microsoft if being dragged from future possibilities into an attempt to make it a present reality. That isn't the case.
with Microsoft having over 300 million Windows 7 licenses sold, the relatively paltry sales of 7 million tablets in the last quarter by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn't seem so scary.
But, that doesn't mean the long-term threat isn't real, as it is, and Microsoft will have to respond to that threat before it gets too far out of hand.
I don't think they have the type of response this time that they've had in the past, where the have lumbered along in response to potential threats, as this one is outside their PC and Office strength, and bypasses them directly. In other words, tablets are legitimate disruptors which will change the computer landscape very quickly.
Microsoft has been expanding into cloud services, as well as still being able to release a hot product, as Kinect has proven in 2010.
But an assault upon their core business must be taken seriously, and quickly. Short term the threat has been overstated by hype, but in the long term it's real, and the longer Microsoft waits to respond, the more precarious the situation will become.
They have time, but not as much as they've had in the past, and the potential threat is much more dire.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Tablet Threat Overblown? We Don't Know Yet
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2 comments:
it all depends on what you think tablets will be used for. netbooks cannibalized laptops to some extent because many people wanted a more portable device, but, more importantly, a less expensive device. tablets as they exist today (i.e., ipad) will not take over the world anytime soon. there are two major reasons for that. one is the limited functionality because a tablet as it is conceived today is a mere browsing device and a browsing device for over $500 a pop is a very expensive toy to have. which brings me to the second point. tablets today are seriously expensive for what they do. netbooks spread like a wild fire because they were useful and inexpensive. tablets are truly hype at this point. one could envision these to become much more popular but they have to grow a lot from their current inception stage. and one last question is: will people do away with laptops and everything else to buy a tablet ? one would be crazy to think that. also, remember why windows has been so successful. it's open but not segmented. apple is completely proprietary. android is open but because of its nature it's very segmented. so most likely tablets will become truly widespread when windows 8 will be released. analysts don't understand the future because they don't look at the past and it's their job not to look at the past, but it's why they are so often so off base in their analysis
i agree. tablets like the ipad are expensive toys to screw around. if you have an extra $500 to screw around be my guest. but you can be sure especially these days there won't be too many people throwing that much money mostly away.
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