Microsoft Flails, Fails to Stop the iPad's Encroachment

It's going to take more than a slide show, guys.

Jan 25 2011, 10:15am CST | by Robert Evans

Microsoft Flails, Fails to Stop the iPad's Encroachment

The iPad is taking a chunk out of Microsoft's enterprise pie. And the Redmond-based company is not happy with it. Their big fancy keynote at CES 2011 unveiled Windows 8 to the world, and with it the knowledge of ARM support. This is a huge move towards making Windows a practical "mobile" OS.

But didn't come fast enough to stop the iPad from turning Apple into the number 2 PC vendor, with some 80% of Fortune 500 companies deploying or testing the slate. Clearly, Microsoft needs a more immediate response.

And that response appears to be...a slide show. ZDNet posted up slides from a PowerPoint presentation to Microsoft reseller partners. The purpose of this show appears to be to push Microsoft-friendly commercial slate PCs. Security, remote assistance, access control and infastructure integration are all things noted as of key importance to enterprise customers.

That last one is worth delving into. One of the big stumbling points the iPad has is that it necessitates the integration of a new operating system into your existing enterprise network. That means training, work-arounds for compliance and a whole new set of software vendor decisions. Windows tablets don't come with these caveats...at least for most businesses.

Which may prove to be the best hope Winpads have for the future. They aren't likely to be as slick or as speedy to use as iOS or Android or webOS. Windows wasn't built as a touch-optimized OS, and I doubt mainstream customers will ever want a Windows tablet more than an iOS or Android tablet.

But enterprise- there's a market Windows slates can nab. Assuming the good ones don't show up too late to the party.

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Robert Evans
The excitement about new smartphones, tablets and anything mobile drive Robert to unearth the latest rumors and developments in this fast moving space. He adopted 4G as soon as it become available and knows where the mobile market is going.
Robert can be contacted directly at robert@i4u.com.