Microsoft Corp, the world’s largest software maker, won’t release a competitor to Apple Inc and Google Inc’s tablet operating systems until next year’s back-to-school season, people with knowledge of the plans said.
Public testing of a new version of Windows will begin at the end of this year with partners and customers, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans haven’t been disclosed publicly.
Microsoft is working to update its Windows 7 operating system with features more tailored to the touch screens, size and battery life of tablet computers to win a place in the surging market for the devices.
The longer it takes Microsoft to release its operating system, the more time Apple and Google have to strengthen their hold on the market.
“If 2011 is the year of the tablet wars, Microsoft will be awfully late suiting up for that battle,” said Michael Gartenberg, a New Jersey-based analyst for research firm Gartner Inc. “It’s not a good position to be in.”
A 2012 debut for Microsoft would likely put it up against a third-generation iPad from Apple and second and third versions of devices based on Google’s Android system, Gartenberg said.
Hewlett-Packard Co and Research In Motion Ltd will probably also release second-generation tablets by then, he said.
Mark Martin, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, declined to comment.
Competition among tablet makers is mounting, with more than 100 new designs entering the market this year, according to In-Stat.
The market for tablets is expected to grow to 118 million units by 2015, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based consulting firm said in a report on Thursday.
Apple introduced its second iPad version on Wednesday — less than a year after the original went on sale. Apple sold 14.8 million units of the first iPad through December.
“Battle lines are being drawn, land is being grabbed, users are being evangelized and spending money,” Gartenberg said.
Timelines for new versions of Windows often shift as the firm develops and tests the product. Windows Vista came out more than two years late, while the current version, Windows 7, was a few months early.
In response to the iPad’s popularity, Microsoft said in January it would make a version of the next Windows software that works on ARM Holdings PLC technology for the first time.
That technology, the basis of chips made by Qualcomm Inc, Texas Instruments Inc and Nvidia Corp, dominates smartphones and is in tablets that run Google’s Android operating system. Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc and Samsung Electronics Co have used ARM-based chips in tablets to take on the iPad.
Microsoft’s operating systems power more than 90 percent of the world’s PCs. Apple, meanwhile, has more than 90 percent of the tablet market, chief executive officer Steve Jobs said when he introduced the iPad 2 on Wednesday.
Microsoft rose US$0.12 to US$26.20 on Thursday in NASDAQ Stock Market trading. The stock has lost 6.1 percent this year.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by