Windows on ARM

Microsoft's strategy to push both Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets has confused the market, according to a Toshiba executive.

In a Toshiba product launch on Wednesday in Sydney, Australia, Mark Whittard, managing director of Toshiba Australia, criticized Microsoft's dual operating system approach. Marketing two types of tablets -- one line with Windows 8, the other with Windows RT -- confused consumers, Whittard said, according to The Australian.

"I think one of the challenges is, there was a lot of confusion with Windows 8, my personal view is that they (Microsoft) confused the market with a couple … Read more

Microsoft faced a few key challenges in developing its Surface tablet, according to team leader Panos Panay.

In an interview with the Verge, Panay offered some tidbits detailing the tricky evolution of Surface. The Surface team's general manager said that Microsoft had two goals in mind for Surface RT, code-named Georgetown: news of the tablet couldn't leak beforehand and it had to be ready to ship when Windows 8 launched.

Right from the start, Microsoft wanted to try to build the tablet without upsetting its Windows 8 OEM partners, Panay said. Whether it achieved that goal is debatable.… Read more

Staples in dangling a $400 trade-in deal to steer customers toward Windows 8 devices.

How does it work? The retailer's "Trade up to touch" Web page explains the process.

You first have to buy a Windows 8 touch device from Staples. It can be an all-in-one PC, a notebook, or a tablet, but it must be one of the qualifying items on the retailer's list. The list includes all-in-ones from Hewlett-Packard and Dell, laptops from Lenovo and Asus, and the various flavors of Microsoft's Surface RT and Pro tablets.

You then identify the device that … Read more

Microsoft's Surface tablet may surface in Japan as early as next month, according to a story from the Nikkei news service, as reported by the Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch.

A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed to CNET that Surface will reach Japan in the near future but didn't specify a launch date.

"As part of our phased approach to Surface availability, Surface will be coming to Japan in the near future," the rep said, promising to provide more details soon.

Microsoft is expected to sell the Surface RT edition to Japanese consumers. That version can run certain … Read more

Is Microsoft a cooler company than it was in the past? Some people certainly think so.

Among 853 people between the ages of 18 and 29 questioned in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, half believe the software giant is cooler than it was a year or two ago. Though 50 percent may not be a resounding endorsement, it topped the coolness factor for a couple of other tech players.

Twitter was deemed cooler than in the past by 47 percent of the young adults polled, while Facebook got the same response from just 42 percent.

Microsoft's score is a promising … Read more

Sales of Microsoft's Surface may not set the tablet world on fire, but CEO Steve Ballmer still sees a key role for the device.

In an interview published today by MIT Technology Review, Ballmer snuck past the initial question of whether he was pleased with Surface sales.

"I'm super-glad we did Surface," Ballmer said in response. "I think it is important -- and not just for Microsoft but for the entire Windows ecosystem -- to see integrated hardware and software."

But the CEO did concede that Surface isn't likely to dominate the PC … Read more

Nokia could tiptoe into the tablet market as the next step beyond its Windows Phone-based Lumia lineup.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told reporters in Sydney, Australia, yesterday that the company is looking "very closely" at tablets but has yet to announce anything official, according to the Australian Financial Review.

"We are studying very closely the market right now as Microsoft has introduced the Surface tablet, so we are trying to learn from that and understand what the right way to participate would be and at what point in time."

Elop also dangled the possibility of an … Read more

The iPad remains the king of the tablet world, but Android rivals continue to carve off some of its market share.

Apple shipped a total of 22.9 million iPads worldwide last quarter thanks to demand for the iPad Mini and the availability of the 4th-gen iPad, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. That number was in line with IDC's forecast and showed a 48.1 percent jump in shipments over the same quarter in 2011.

But for the second consecutive quarter, Apple's share of the global tablet market fell. In the fourth quarter of 2012, … Read more

Microsoft's Surface tablet may not have rung in much holiday cheer last quarter, at least according to one analyst.

Microsoft sold just 1 million Surface RT tablets in the fourth quarter, projects UBS analyst Brent Thill, down from a prior forecast of 2 million. In an investors note out today, the analyst cited two reasons for his dour projection in a single sentence:

"Surface RT is a consumer device with [fourth-quarter] sales suffering from the difficult iPad compare and narrow distribution."

Early last month, IHS iSuppli analyst Rhoda Alexander told CNET that she expected Surface sales of 1.3 million … Read more