Ballmer: Other manufacturers remain important, despite Surface tablets
The fact that Microsoft itself is going to bring two tablets on the market does not mean that the company is pushing other manufacturers aside. That’s according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. With this he probably responds to the suspected dissatisfaction among manufacturers.
During his keynote address at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer emphasized the importance of “diversity” in Windows devices. Microsoft partners that sell hardware remain important, the CEO said.
“We may sell a few million of the 375 million Windows devices,” Ballmer said, referring to the number of Windows devices he says will be sold in the coming year.
Ballmer’s comments don’t come out of the blue; he probably responds to the dissatisfaction that would have arisen after the announcement of his Surface tablets. Manufacturers that ship Windows, according to Reuters news agency, only a few days before the announcement heard of the existence of the tablets; Acer and ASUS wouldn’t even have gotten a heads-up at all. That while Microsoft would have been given access to still secret plans that the manufacturers have for Windows 8 tablets.
In addition, Microsoft’s hardware partners would be afraid that with the arrival of its own tablets, Microsoft is no longer just a partner, but also becomes a competitor. HP recently decided not to release a tablet with Windows RT, the version of Windows 8 for devices with ARM processors; according to Slashgear, that was out of dissatisfaction with Microsoft’s plans.
Microsoft announced its own tablets halfway through last month. The company is releasing two different models: a version with an ARM processor and a model with an Intel Ivy Bridge CPU. Both tablets have a ClearType touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1366×768 pixels or 1080p.
Earlier on Monday, Microsoft’s corporate vice president Tami Reller announced that Windows 8 will be available in the last week of October. The new Windows version will be ready at the beginning of August; then the release to manufacturing, in which manufacturers get access to the operating system.