Microsoft commits to 'many more' Windows RT tablets

Don’t count Windows RT out yet: Microsoft executives said Thursday that customers should expect “many more Windows RT tablets” in the future.

As part of its 2013 financial analyst meeting Thursday, Microsoft assembled its key leaders to field questions from Wall Street analysts, most dealing with strategies on individual products. Questions about Microsoft’s Surface strategy essentially served as a prologue to Microsoft’s Surface event next week, where the company is expected to launch the next-generation Surface 2, based on an Intel Haswell processor.

And although Windows RT and the Windows RT-powered Surface have had their detractors—as well as their fans (like the one shown above)—RT-powered tablets will apparently remain in the conversation for some time to come.

Terry Myerson, executive vice president in charge of all of Microsoft’s operating systems, said that his job was to exploit commonalities in design, silicon, and interfaces to enable consistent experiences across different platforms.

[Related: Microsoft to analysts: consumers are the gateway to cloud, enterprise usage]

Specifically, Myerson said that he had three key beliefs: one silicon interface for all devices, one API for all devices, and all apps should be available on all devices. Moreover, all devices should be cloud-powered, with core services enabling all devices. And all devices should have the same, tailored experience, Myerson said. A core team will bring those silicon interfaces together, he said. Another team will deliver services, and a satellite team will help out the others.

Windows RT will also play a role. ARM devices continue to have incredible share in phones, Myerson said, apparent justification to continue building tablets around them.

“Expect to see many more ARM tablets,” Myerson said. Windows RT 8.1 also supports the next generation of ARM chips—presumably foreshadowing tablets built around the emerging 64-bit Cortex architectures that ARM is developing, although Myerson didn’t confirm this.

Julie Larson-Green, who runs Microsoft’s Devices and Studios business, also endorsed Windows RT and its future.

Larson-Green, who will report to Nokia’s Stephen Elop when he returns to Microsoft as part of the Nokia acquisition next year, was also asked about how Surface is progressing, providing some insight into how Microsoft will launch the new Surface next week. “What we’ve learned is that you need to have balance in the market: great hardware, great software, great apps and services to allow you to win,” she said.

Larson-Green said that the original Xbox had few games. Within Surface, the team is working on all aspects; software, services, and hardware, to improve it holistically, she said.

Apps are a significant area of focus for the leadership team, Myerson said. “We have a plan, we have a focus... and we think we’ll be a leader here as we execute our plan,” Myerson said.

Virtually all of the top 50 apps are on Windows Phone, Myerson said. Microsoft has worked to lower its fees for app development and publishing, and introduced competencies to highlight certain developers. “We really are working all angles on this: globally, locally, how the virtuous cycle works on other platforms, how they should work on our platforms,” he said.

Satya Nadella, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise business, added that there’s no application that gets built today without a cloud element—a key advantage for Microsoft and its Azure technology.

Myerson also pointed out that Microsoft should benefit, engineering-wise, from the Nokia acquisition. “There are times you get to the hardware-software boundary, and sometimes that boundary gets in the way of collaboration,” Myerson said.

”Sometimes that seam has slowed progress or hindered what could get done,” Myerson added. “Removing that seam will enable new things. Not just first-party devices from Microsoft....I see even more compelling software and services from our platform and more epic hardware from Nokia.”

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Microsoft pumps up Surface tablets with faster chips, longer battery life

Microsoft launched both of its next-generation Surface 2 tablets Monday, promising significant improvements in performance, graphics and battery life on both the Surface 2 and the Surface Pro 2.

As expected, Microsoft also announced seven peripherals, including a Power Cover and a new docking station, which gives the Surface the power of something close to a workstation PC, according to Panos Panay, the Microsoft vice president in charge of the company’s tablet efforts.

Photo: Caitlin McGarryThe new Surface Pro 2 will come with an Intel Haswell processor and will be able to process 6K raw video data.

“Surface has been one of the best products that Microsoft has ever built,” Panay told attendees at a New York launch event, adding that Microsoft is making its tablets even better. “Reinventing the wheel is not the goal. Making it better is.”

Surface will cost $449, and will be available in 32GB and 64GB configurations. Surface Pro 2 will come in 64GB and 128GB configurations with 4GB of RAM as well as 256GB and 512GB configurations with 8GB of RAM, with prices starting at $899. A new Touch Cover—Touch Cover 2—will cost $120, and a new Type Cover will sell for $130.

Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 2

Microsoft will take preorders on Tuesday, for delivery on Oct. 22.

Microsoft was rightfully proud of the original Surface tablet when it first debuted in June 2012. Although reporters were only granted a few seconds—if that—with the tablet Monday, the obvious quality of the Surface’s VaporMg casing coupled with the intrigue of Windows running on the ARM processor platform instantly made the Surface a desirable piece of hardware.

Microsoft’s two covers— the Touch Cover and the Type Cover—also took an innovation that Apple had pioneered and radically improved it. (Check out our reviews of the original Surface Pro and the Surface RT.)

The new Surface Pro 2 with docking station and Touch Cover.

A round of grumbling about the Surface soon, er, surfaced, however, when users began playing with the Windows RT operating system and started searching vainly for apps to use with it. Fans of the Surface RT aside, most were awaiting the release of the Surface Pro. When the tablet was released in January 2013, PCWorld dubbed the Surface Pro“the Surface the world had been waiting for.” And it was—just not the whole world. In reality, just a very small part of it.

And then the warning bells started to ring: Microsoft wrote down the value of the Surface inventory by $900 million, part of a $150 discount applied to the Surface RT and $100 taken off the price of the Surface Pro that were made permanent. The Surface RT will remain, with a $349 price tag for 32GB and $449 for 64GB, while the Pro costs $799 for 64GB and $899 for 128GB.

In the weeks leading up to Monday’s launch, PCWorld—among others—opined about what Microsoft would need to accomplish with the Surface 2. Reports also mostly pegged what Microsoft had planned—a refresh of the tablet using an Intel “Haswell” microprocessor, more RAM, and some new, intriguing covers.

The first-generation Surface was the fastest product that users ever tried, Panay said, and the fastest in its class. Surface Pro 2 is faster than 95 percent of all laptops on the market today, Microsoft contends.

A Surface Pro 2 with a new Type Cover

Graphics now run 50 percent faster than the prior generation; the performance improved by 20 percent to “lightning-fast speeds,” Panay said. Dolby-qualified speakers were also added to improve the sound quality.

Panay unveiled an improved kickstand, with “better angles.” It's a dual-mode kickstand that will allow users to angle it back farther. “Sometimes subtlety is the most powerful force,” he said.

“This is something that will change the product in ways you cannot expect,” Panay said, referring to the device’s new “lap-ability”.

Microsoft also addressed the tablet's battery life. With the new Surface Power Cover, which has a 30 watt-hour battery embedded inside, the Surface Pro 2 will have 2.5 times the battery life of the first Surface Pro—more than 10 hours in total. “Pound for pound, watt for watt, it is the fastest product you can use today,” Panay said.

Power Cover will have an estimated retail price of $200 and has a projected release date of early 2014.

Photo: Caitlin McGarryThe Surface Docking Station unveiled at a press event Monday adds I/O functionality to Microsoft’s Surface tablet.

As expected, Microsoft also launched a docking station, the Surface Docking Station, with adds I/O functionality to the Surface tablet. The docking station can power two separate monitors for a total display resolution of 3840 x 2160, and it includes three USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 port, a MiniDisplayPort connector that will power two displays, ethernet, and Audio In, Audio Out, plus power. “We now have a workstation PC built in” to the Surface tablet, Panay said.

The Docking Station for Surface Pro will have an estimated retail price of $200 and has a projected release date of early 2014.

Microsoft showed off video being produced by the RED camera, manipulating raw 6K footage. Moviemakers can take the tablet to the set itself, Panay said.

Microsoft also launched Type Cover 2, available in four colors—cyan (blue), magenta (pink), purple, and black. “It’s clear that input makes you productive,” Panay said.

The latest Type Cover is one millimeter thinner the overall model, but with a better key switch that makes Type Cover 2 almost as thin as the original Touch Cover.  And it’s silent, he said. Even better, it features a backlit keyboard that automatically dims after about six seconds—then relights when the user uses it again.

Photo: Caitlin McGarryThe second generation of Type Covers ditches the all-black stylings of their predecessors with new cyan, magenta, and purple color options.

Panay also launched Touch Cover 2, a 2.5 mm-thick cover that is a millimeter thinner than previous generations, and is also backlit. The number of sensors inside the Touch Cover has been beefed up from 80 sensors to 1092, to improve the feel of the device.

“What does that mean? It means you can’t miss a key,” Panay said. Users can even do gestures on top of the new Touch Cover.

The Surface Remix Project cover

Finally, there’s the Surface Remix Project, a cover specifically designed for DJs. The cover is also pressure-sensitive and lets you use your tablet like a drum kit.

But what about the Windows RT-powered Surface 2? Microsoft also redesigned it. “It’s not the changes that everyone wanted, but it has the change that people need,” Panay said.

Microsoft’s Surface 2

“It’s the fastest product that I’ve used relative to a personal tablet,” Panay said. The CPU speed has increased “dramatically,” and Microsoft doubled the speed of the Wi-Fi as well as the speed of the memory. Microsoft even added a Surface logo to the back of it.

The Surface Pro 2 and the Surface 2 share the same screen. Battery life has increased to 12 hours, 25 percent better than the original Surface, Panay said. But Microsoft also made the Surface 2 lighter and thinner. An HDMI output allows users to throw games on the large display. “I’ll tell you how it’s even sexier, because it is,” he said.

Photo: Caitlin McGarryYou’’ll find more apps in the Windows Store for the Surface tablets this time around, Microsoft says—more than 100,000 in fact.

Part of the sexiness, Panay said, derives from Windows 8.1, the new version of the Windows OS. Panay said that the number of apps have increased in the Windows Store, to more than 100,000. And the most powerful app is Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Users will receive free international calling with Skype and access to Skype hotspots free for a year. Additionally, Microsoft put a third sensor in the front of the tablet to improve the look of Skype callers. The sensor will filter additional light through the product to “light” the maker of the Skype call.

Panay also highlighted the power of Microsoft’s services, including SkyDrive, which Microsoft will beef up: Surface buyers will receive a free, additional 200GB of SkyDrive for two years.

Will the Surface 2 be the saving grace of Microsoft’s hardware aspirations? Panay hopes so. “Go get it,” he said of the new Surface 2 devices. “It’s a beast.”

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From calculators to tablets, Intel focuses on the mobile era

Intel’s dominance of the chip market is starting to wane as PC shipments slump and smartphone and tablet adoption grows, but the manufacturer will try to prove it can make fast and power-efficient processors for mobile devices at its annual developer gathering next week.

At the Intel Developer Forum next week, the company will introduce low-power Atom chips code-named Bay Trail, which will go into tablets that are priced from $150. The show will also be a litmus test for new CEO Brian Krzanich, who will deliver the keynote speech on Sept. 10 and highlight Intel’s long-term strategy as the company diversifies into the mobile market.

PCWorld (US)Intel CEO Brian Krzanich

Krzanich replaced the popular Paul Otellini in May this year, and has put mobile chips at the top of his priority list. He has also created a “new devices” group that will focus on emerging areas like wearables. The chip maker is already planning to release a TV service through its own set-top box, and Krzanich may touch upon the wearable devices during his opening keynote on Sept. 10.

A distraction will be an Apple product launch event on Sept. 10, which starts just one hour after Krzanich’s keynote begins.

Apple’s iPhone 5 launch event was held last year on Sept. 10, one day ahead of IDF, but chatter about the smartphone and other Apple products lingered on the IDF floor for the entire show. Apple is expected to launch new iPhones at its event.

The transition to mobile is one of the more challenging issues for Intel since the chip maker made its first 4004 chip for calculators in 1971. Aided by Windows, Intel went on to thrive in the PC market, but is now just catching up to ARM in tablets and smartphones. Though the Wintel alliance remains alive, Intel has now adopted the widely used Android operating systems for mobile devices as it tries to gain market share.

Intel has also struggled to dispel a notion that its low-power mobile chips are watered-down versions of its power-hungry x86 PC chips, an idea the company will try to debunk at the show through its Bay Trail chips. Based on the Silvermont architecture, the chips have an all-new design and will be available in dual-core and quad-core variants.

Intel claims Bay Trail tablets will have longer battery life and better performance compared to its Atom chips. Intel hopes Bay Trail will be a legitimate competitor to ARM, and the companies have already traded barbs on superiority in performance and power efficiency.

Intel has said Bay Trail tablets will start at $150. The first few models will likely be priced at about $400 or more and run Windows 8.1, but some Android models shipping toward the end of the year will be lower in price.

Tablets with ARM processors and Android are available for under $100 in some cases, though some popular brands such as Google’s Nexus 7 start at over $200.

Intel is also extending Bay Trail chips to low-cost Windows 8, Android and Chrome OS laptops and desktops. The company will also highlight developments in Ultrabooks, which are thin and light laptops that can also function as tablets.

Adoption of Ultrabooks has been poor due to high product prices, but Lenovo and Dell in the past month have announced new laptops and hybrids based on Intel’s fourth-generation Core processors, code-named Haswell.

The chip maker is also expected to announce new server chips, and will also touch upon new data center technologies such as optical networking. Intel is tuning many of its server chips specific to software applications, and many technology briefing sessions will be focused on software development for big data, supercomputing and mobile devices.

Intel is also dabbling in the area of open-source PCs and the “Internet of things.” In addition, the company will demonstrate Thunderbolt 2, which will transfer data between host PCs and peripherals at twice the speed of its current 10G bps (bits per second) rate.

Agam Shah is a reporter for the IDG News Service in New York. He covers hardware including PCs, servers, tablets, chips, semiconductors, consumer electronics and peripherals.
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New Fonepad and Memo Pad tablets from Asus

BERLIN—Asustek Wednesday added new 6-inch and 7-inch models to its Fonepad lineup as well as two new 8- and 10-inch Memo Pad tablets.

The new tablets were unveiled at the IFA trade show here, They run on Android 4.2, also known as Jelly Bean.

The new Fonepad 6 Note tablet, which is also used for as a telephone, has new hardware that includes a faster Intel Atom processor. The Fonepad 6 Note, which falls into the "phablet" category, has a 6-inch screen that can display images at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The tablet weighs 7.4 ounces, is just under half-an-inch thick, and runs on an Intel dual-core Atom Z2580 processor code-named Clover Trail+.

The Note 6 supports only 3G connectivity, which means it could be targeted at developing countries. The phablet’s battery provides 23 hours of 3G talk-time and 6.5 hours of 720p video playback, according to Asus. The Note 6 provides up to 32GB of storage and 2GB RAM. It also has an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.2-megapixel front camera. Other features include a micro-USB port, a micro-SIM slot and a micro-SD slot for expandable storage.

The Fonepad 7 (shown above) has a 7-inch screen, weight just about 12 ounces, and runs on an Intel Atom processor. The device offers up to 28 hours of 3G talk time and 10 hours of video playback on a single battery charge, according to Asus.

The tablet is 0.41 inches thick and can display images at a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. Other features include up to 32GB of storage, a 5-megapixel rear camera, and a 1.2-megapixel front camera.

AsusAsus Memo Pad 8

While the Fonepads are designed for telephony, the new Memo Pad tablets are targeted at budget buyers. The Memo Pad 8 and Memo Pad 10 run on quad-core processors and have screens that can display images at a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels.

The Memo Pad 8-inch tablet is the size of a typical 7-inch tablet, but has more screen space. It weighs around 12.3 ounces, and offers eight hours of battery life on a single charge. Other features include a 5-megapixel rear camera, a 1.2-megapixel rear camera, and up to 8GB of storage.

The Memo Pad 10 weighs around 18.4 ounces, and offers around 9.5 hours of battery life on a single charge, Asus said. It has a 2-megapixel rear camera, a 1.2-megapixel rear camera, and up to 16GB of storage.

AsusAsus MemoPad 10

Asus also announced the Transformer Pad TF701T multimedia tablet, which has a 10.1-inch screen and could be the company's fastest tablet to date.

Notable features include a display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels and an Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, which is one of the faster ARM tablet processors available outside of Samsung’s Exynos 5 chips.

Other features include a 5-megapixel rear camera, a 1.2-megapixel front camera, and a USB 3.0 port to connect high-speed storage devices.

Transformer Pad TF701T multimedia tablet

The TF710T weighs 20.5 ounces and offers around 13 hours of battery life, Asus said. However, the battery life could change depending on usage. For example, playing games will drain the battery much quicker.

Information on pricing and availability of the tablets was not immediately available. Asus did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Agam Shah is a reporter for the IDG News Service in New York. He covers hardware including PCs, servers, tablets, chips, semiconductors, consumer electronics and peripherals.
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Large-screen smartphones, tablets, PCs expected at IFA

A smart watch from Samsung Electronics, an Acer smartphone that can shoot 4K video, and a Sony smartphone with a 20-megapixel sensor, plus a plethora of tablets and TVs, are all expected at this year's IFA consumer electronics show.

Consumer electronics manufacturers from all over the world are once again heading to Berlin for the show, which won't open its doors to the public until Friday. By then, though, most of the new products will have already been announced at news conferences on Wednesday and Thursday.

Samsung is expected to launch a smart watch, the voice-controlled Galaxy Gear, rumoredto allow users to keep track of calls, messages and social networks. The device will also have calorie and pulse monitors, and apps that take advantage of those features, according to media reports. The smart watch segment is being increasingly hyped, but expectations should in this case be tempered by the fact that the Galaxy Gear is a first generation device, and few vendors get everything right the first time.

The Korean company is expected to launch a new Galaxy Note too. When it launched the first phone-and-stylus combination back at IFA in 2011, the form factor had its detractors. But Samsung has managed to create a new product category, in which it now faces stiff competition from the likes of Sony and LG Electronics.

The Note's screen size has increased from 5.3 inches to 5.5 inches and is expected to be 5.7 inches on the Galaxy Note 3, with a 1920 by a 1080 pixel resolution. The Note 3 will have a 13-megapixel camera and Samsung is also expected to stick with a MicroSD card slot, in addition to the 32GB or 64GB of integrated storage.

The device will be powered by either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 or Samsung's own Exynos 5 Octa processor. The company demonstrated a new model of the latter in July. The Exynos 5420 has four Cortex-A15 processors running at 1.8GHz and four additional Cortex-A7 cores at 1.3 GHz. It also has a six-core Mali-T628 GPU for improved graphics performance. Compared to its predecessor, the Exynos 5420 will also be more power efficient, according to Samsung. At the time, Samsung said the processor was scheduled for mass production in August.

Any large-screened new Samsung smartphone will probably have to duke it out with the Xperia Z1 Sony is expected to launch at IFA. In an effort to differentiate its new flagship from the competition it looks like Sony is taking a note from Nokia's play book by focusing on the camera, which will have a 20-megapixel sensor. The smartphone's specification is also rumored to include a 5-inch full HD screen and a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor.

Some smartphone and tablet vendors didn't want to get drowned out at IFA, so they have already announced products ahead of the show.

LG G Pad

From LG Electronics comes the G Pad 8.3 tablet, which has an 8.3-inch screen with a 1920- by-1200-pixel resolution. It is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 600 Processor running at 1.7GHz and has inherited some features from LG's recently announced G2 smartphone, including the capability for users to knock on the screen to turn on the device. With a feature called QSlide, users will be able to control "up to three different apps in one window with no interruption."

The tablet will be rolled out in North America, Europe and Asia as well as other regions starting next quarter. Prices will be announced at launch time, according to LG.

Archos also wants a bigger piece of the tablet market and will show a number of new products in Berlin. Android-based tablets in its Platinum range will be made out of aluminium and have quad-core processors and screens with resolutions of up to 2,048 x 1,536 pixels. The tablets in the new ChildPad range feature a user interface designed for children, parental controls as well as a filtered version of the Google Play app store.

The rapid growth of the tablet market has left the PC sector struggling. Vendors are looking for new ways to lure consumers into buying a PC as well as a tablet.

Acer DA241HL

Acer has announced the DA241HL, an Android-based all-in-one PC that has a 24-inch Full HD touchscreen and is powered by a Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor. Via an HDMI connector it can also double as a display for a Windows 8-based laptop or desktop computer. The DA241HL will be available mid-October and cost from $570.

LG, on the other hand, is hoping a screen with a 21:9 aspect ratio will help. Consumer interest in the format has increased since LG launched its first monitors last year, it said. Last week the company unveiled the V960 all-in-one PC, which has a 29-inch, 21:9 screen with picture-in-picture functionality, allowing users to browse the Internet while watching TV, the company said. LG didn't announce any details on when it will ship or what it will cost.

The TV sector is another part of the consumer electronics industry that has been struggling in the last couple of years. The addition of 3D has largely been a failure, so TV manufacturers have instead set their sights on 4K resolution sets, which have a 3,840 x 2,160 pixel resolution.

They face two main challenges—lack of content and getting the price down to something a majority of consumers can afford. Recently, Samsung and Sony both dropped the cost of their 4K products, in Sony's case to around $4,000 for a 55-inch model.

Just like last year, all the major vendors are expected to show new 4K TVs, although it remains to been seen whether they have cheaper models in store. Rumors ahead of the show are mostly about 4K products that are out of reach for most consumers, including a 98-inch TV from Samsung.

One way to get around the shortage of 4K video content is to allow users to create their own, which is what Acer's Liquid S2 does. The device will be unveiled at IFA, and is the first smartphone capable of recording 4K video. The device has a 6-inch full HD screen and is also powered by 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor. The Liquid S2 version will be available at the end of October. Pricing was not announced.

Sony's Xperia Z1 is also rumored to be capable of 4K video recording.

IFA opens in Berlin on Friday and will continue through September 11.

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The evolution of classroom tech, from wax tablets to the iPad

Classroom technology has been revolutionizing the learning experience ever since the first abacus was used in Mesopotamia all the way back in 2700 BCE—and it's been moving especially fast since the latter half of the last century.

So, what technological teaching aides came before the laptop and tablet? Read on to find out, and feel free to take (Ever)notes—there may just be a quiz at the end.*

*Not really

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Barnes & Noble backtracks, decides to keep designing Nook tablets after all

Barnes & Noble is backtracking on an earlier decision to stop designing its own tablets, and says it will produce at least one new Nook device in time for the holiday shopping season.

The bookseller had never intended to stop making Nook tablets entirely. But in June, Barnes & Noble said it would outsource its tablet design and manufacturing to third parties, while continuing to design its own e-readers.

Barnes & Noble announced its change of heart in an earnings statement, which also carried news of holiday hardware. “At least one new NOOK device will be released for the coming holiday season and further products are in development,” Michael Huseby, President of Barnes & Noble and CEO of Nook Media, said in the statement. Huseby didn't say whether this device would be an e-reader or a tablet.

Huseby became CEO of Nook Media after last month's resignation of Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch. In an earnings call, Huseby was openly critical of the previous management, and how the company produced far more Nook tablets than it could sell. Barnes & Noble is now selling those devices on the cheap.

"We overestimated demand for the products that we put out, and as a result of that, had to discount those products … and we don't want to be in that position again,” Huseby said.

As for future products, Huseby said that “wholesale outsourcing of our color device business is neither appropriate nor is it smart for the company.” Barnes & Noble needs to stay competitive in devices if it wants to keep selling e-books and other content, Huseby said, and he believes the Nook design team can do a better job than an outside partner.

It's unclear, however, how Barnes & Noble will get back in the game while its competitors keep gaining more market traction. Although the company's app partnership with Google gives Nook an edge over rival Amazon, Google itself is seeing rapid growth its own Nexus 7 tablets, produced in partnership with Asus. By wavering on whether to design its own Nook tablets, Barnes & Noble may have cost itself precious time—especially if the company doesn't have a new tablet ready for the holidays.

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Microsoft to sell struggling Surface tablets to business customers outside the U.S.

Microsoft will start selling its struggling Surface devices to business customers abroad via channel partners on Thursday.

The move builds on a similar effort Microsoft launched in July to tap distributors and resellers to push Surface tablets to businesses in the U.S.

The channel program goes into effect in Canada and 16 European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and the U.K.

Until now, Microsoft only sold Surfaces in a limited way directly to business customers in these countries, as it had done in the U.S. prior to July.

Martyn WilliamsThe computer not enough people want.

The initial set of international distributors and resellers have been hand-picked by Microsoft using criteria like their geographic reach, experience selling tablets to businesses and the complementary services they’re able to offer customers.

“Like we did in the U.S. last month, we’re taking a measured approach at first, and plan to expand later,” said Cyril Belikoff, Microsoft’s Surface marketing director.

These channel partners will target private-sector companies, government customers and schools and universities. They will honor Microsoft warranties and provide services like asset tagging, custom imaging, on-site service, device recycling and data protection.

The other countries included in the channel program are Spain, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland.

Microsoft’s next goal is to extend the channel program to the other 10 countries where the Surface is available via its retail channel program.

The Surface, a Microsoft-branded tablet, hasn’t sold well since its launch 10 months ago. It was also controversial from the start because it competes against other Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets made by Microsoft’s hardware partners.

It comes in two main editions: the Surface Pro, which runs Windows 8 for x86 chips, and the Surface RT, which runs Windows RT, the Windows 8 version for devices that use ARM chips. Microsoft executives have said the company plans to make more products like the Surface, in which it’s in charge of both the OS and the hardware, in a nod to the success Apple has had with that model.

Martyn WilliamsMicrosoft hopes the $350 Surface RT or $800 Pro will be suitable for the suits.

In the first quarter, Microsoft shipped 900,000 Surface tablets, a 1.8 percent market share, according to IDC. Leading the pack was Apple with 19.5 million iPad shipments and a market share of almost 40 percent, followed by Samsung with 18 percent share, Asus (5.5 percent) and Amazon.com (3.7 percent).

IDC noted in that report that Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets from other hardware manufacturers had struggled to gain traction as well—1.8 million Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets shipped in the first quarter.

In the second calendar quarter, 1.8 million tablets shipped worldwide ran Windows 8, good for 4 percent share, while 200,000 Windows RT tablets shipped, a 0.5 percent share, according to IDC. That compares with market share of 63 percent and 33 percent respectively for Android and iOS. Surface shipments, however, plummeted to around 300,000, IDC told CiteWorld.

In its fourth fiscal quarter, ended June 30, Microsoft took a $900 million charge for Surface RT inventory adjustments, and later said in a regulatory filing that Surface sales in the quarter had generated $853 million in revenue.

Since the Surface launch, Microsoft has cut the price of the Surface Pro and the Surface RT and run promotions to try and spur sales.

Surface RT in particular has been a tough sell to businesses because Windows RT devices can’t run existing Windows 7 applications, only new applications built for the new OS and available in the Windows Store. Moreover, Windows RT ships with a version of Office, but it’s not licensed for commercial use.

In addition, Windows RT lacks many IT management features and doesn’t support the Outlook email client, but Microsoft is addressing those two issues in the 8.1 update of the OS, which is now in previews and slated for general availability in mid-October.

The Surface RT now starts at $349.

The Surface Pro is more powerful and can run legacy Windows applications, but it starts at $799 and reviewers have faulted its limited battery life. It started shipping in February.

Juan Carlos Perez covers e-commerce, Google, web-application development, and cloud applications for the IDG News Service.
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Android tablets still rule, while Windows continues to slip

Both Apple- and Windows-branded tablets lost market share in the second quarter, each retreating in the face of increased pressure from Android, a market research analyst said last week.

In preliminary estimates for the quarter ending June 30, U.K.-based Strategy Analytics pegged Apple's share of the global tablet market at 28.3 percent, a dramatic decline from 47.2 percent the year before. When so-called "white box" tablets, which are almost exclusively powered by Android, are excluded, Apple's share fell to 40.4 percent from 48.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013.

Windows' share of the branded tablet market also slipped in the second quarter compared to the first, falling to 6.4 percent from 7.4 percent. With white-box tablets included, however, its year-over-year share jumped nine-fold, from a paltry 0.5 percent in 2012's second quarter to 4.5 percent in 2013.

Windows tablets had only one way to go when compared year-over-year, as Windows 8 and Windows RT, the two tablet-appropriate operating systems from the Redmond, Washington company, were not released until late in the third quarter of 2012.

By any measurement, Android solidified its first place position. Of the entire tablet market, including white-box units—which comprised 37 percent of all shipments—Android's share climbed to 67 percent from 2012's 51.4 percent. Strip out the white box tablets and Android's increase, while on a slower pace, was still impressive: 52.9 percent in the second quarter, up from 43.4 percent in the first three-month stretch of 2013.

Peter King, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, attributed Apple's share decline to a lack of new tablet models, echoing others who have pointed out that the Cupertino, California company has not released a new tablet or even refreshed an existing tablet since late in 2012.

"We may see Apple get back on track later this year if, as everyone expects, they launch new models," said King in an interview Tuesday. "We may start to see a bit of fight back in them."

Windows' problem in tablets has also been well documented.

Strategy AnalyticsApple- and Windows-branded tablets lost share in the second quarter to Android, which has a lock on the fast-growing low-priced part of the market.

"They screwed up in terms of sales and marketing," said King, referring to the 2012-13 launch of the Microsoft-made Surface RT and Surface Pro. "They excluded the vast majority of the world from buying it. People want to see a tablet, feel it, touch it, want their friends to buy it."

Instead, Microsoft sold the Surface RT in 2012, and—starting in early 2013—the more expensive Surface Pro, primarily online with a bit of help from its small-sized U.S. and Canadian retail chain.

Microsoft still overwhelmingly relies on its hardware partners for Windows-powered hardware. They have also been dogged by sluggish sales, and virtually all have either declined to support Windows RT or abandoned the scaled-down OS designed exclusively for tablets.

Nor have Windows tablet prices been competitive. "The $349 is where they should have started," said King, of this month's $150 price cut to the Surface RT line, a move that forced Microsoft to take a $900 million charge against earnings as it accounted for the discount and the overstock that drove it.

Microsoft has taken corrective steps, including the Surface RT price cut and a deal with the U.S. electronic retail chain Best Buy that will balloon the number of outlets selling Surface.

"Microsoft will be back," said King, ticking off the company's strengths, including a large war chest and this fall's free Windows 8.1 upgrade. "But for them, it's 'Okay, back to the drawing board,'" he added, noting that in the meantime Microsoft will have lost 12 months in its fight to claw out a significant share.

Some of the factors involved in the decline of share in Apple- and Windows-marked tablets, however, will not be easily addressed.

Android tablets, especially the cut-rate white box units, have a stranglehold on the low-priced segment. "Outside the U.S. and Europe, sales are driven by the low-cost models, not because they're great, because they're not, but because people [in those markets] don't have as much disposable income," said King.

The cutthroat price war in tablets has prompted analysts to call for Apple to consider discounting the iPad mini, the company's $329 7.9-inch tablet, to $249.

Minus cost cuts and discounts—far from a given by either Apple or Microsoft—there's no chance either company will shove Android aside as the share leader, said King, parroting other analysts who have said Google's operating system will remain dominant for the foreseeable future.

Strategic Analytics based its early tablet estimates on polls of vendors, publicly-released data and supply chain checks. Its numbers represent "sell-in," or tablet shipments, not final sales.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news.
More by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

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Microsoft releases Office Mobile for Android phones (tablets need not apply)

Microsoft Wednesday added Android to the list of mobile operating systems now supported by Office Mobile. But Office Mobile for Android only covers phones, not tablets, limiting its utility.

The Android version, Office Mobile for Android, is also arguably the weakest of the bunch, in terms of compatibility with Microsoft Office. Microsoft is still tacitly encouraging users to buy Windows Phones, which come preloaded and activated with Windows Mobile and don’t require an Office 365 subscription to use. The problem is, within the Android world, there are a number of other office solutions that provide very good direct competition to Microsoft’s offering.

MicrosoftHolding your phone vertically allows you to edit your PowerPoint slides.

Nevertheless, Office Mobile for Android is free and downloadable from the Google Play Store. The only requirement is that your phone must contain Android 4.0 or higher, and you must already have purchased Office 365.

In a break with Office Mobile for iPhone, Microsoft doesn’t even offer the option to purchase Office 365 from within the app; instead, users must sign up outside the application itself. And without Office 365, Office Mobile for Android is virtually useless.

“The release of this app shows that we’re committed to keep providing additional value for Office 365 subscribers,” said Guy Gilbert, a senior product manager of the Office apps for Microsoft, in a blog post.

Qualifying Office 365 plans include Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 Small Business Premium, Office 365 Midsize Business, Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E4, Office 365 Education A3 and A4, Office 365 ProPlus, and Office 365 University.

There are also Office 365 government plans that include Office Mobile. Users can also visit Office.com and sign up for a free 30-day trial, Microsoft said.

While Microsoft eventually intends to make Office Mobile for Android available across 33 languages and in 117 markets, it’s only currently available for the United States. That will change over the next few weeks, Microsoft said.

Like Office Mobile for iPhone, the Android version comes with mobile versions of Excel, PowerPoint, and Word; Office Mobile for Windows Phone adds OneNote as well. So far, Android users don’t have access to the Outlook Web App app that Microsoft recently released for the iPhone, either.

MicrosoftOffice for Android users can create documents in Word or Excel.

Users can create new documents, edit those that they’ve already created, and save, load, or edit files saved to Microsoft’s SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro—which on Tuesday received a few upgrades, as well.

But the ability to create files only applies to Word and Excel; for now, you can review your PowerPoint slides and edit them, but not create a presentation from scratch.

Users can also open a document via email. Office Mobile includes a couple of handy features designed for the phone;

The software knows what documents you’ve recently accessed on your PC, and those are the first options presented when you choose to open a saved file.

A feature that Microsoft calls Rapid Resume also works like Amazon’s Kindle, ‘fast-forwarding” you to the portion of the document last viewed on your PC.

An “outline view” in Excel and Word allow you to quickly navigate through the document, and both apps allow annotations as well.

Within the three supported apps, Microsoft has made efforts to make editing a snap; in Word (shown at top of story), for example, tapping the pencil brings up the most common editing functions. Excel allows you to filter and sort data and create charts, using the local processor to calculate data.

Within PowerPoint, users can review slides and edit speaker notes, move and hide slides, and make text edits directly from the phone. Holding the phone in a portrait orientation allows edits to be made and includes a quick navigation bar; a landscape orientation serves as presentation mode.

MicrosoftOffice Mobile for Android, displaying an Excel worksheet.

In general, Office Mobile for Android and Office Mobile for iPhone should function quite similarly, with two exceptions: Android users can not sign up for Office 365 within the app itself, and Android users may need to fully qualify documents that are accessed via an on-premise SharePoint server.

To date, however, Microsoft has been keenly cognizant that productivity apps are the foundation of the Windows platform, and users who purchase a Windows Phone will have these benefits:

Office Mobile will be preinstalled and activated;users will be able to save documents to the phone itself, as well as SkyDrive or email;WP users will be able to filter and search for documents;Users can also easily open documents with permissions attached to them.

Office 365 includes a license of up to five mobile devices—but Windows Phones don’t count against that limit.

The biggest annoyance, however, is that—like the iPad—tablets aren’t supported in either Office Mobile for the iPhone or the Android version, either. Those trying to hunt and peck at keys in the back of a jouncing taxi are likely to grit their teeth and muddle through; by doing so, however, Microsoft is tacitly encouraging customers in the direction of a Surface tablet—now at a new low, low, price—or even a full-fledged Windows 8 PC. (“Phablets” like the Samsung Galaxy Note II should still be supported, however.)

“If you have an iPad or Android tablet, we recommend using the Office Web Apps, which provide the best Office experience on a tablet,” a spokeswoman for Microsoft said via email. “We have made lots of enhancements to Office Web Apps including a touch experience for tablet users.”

QuickOffice Pro provides one tablet-friendly alternative to Office Mobile for Android.

Microsoft also has native apps for OneNote, Lync, and SharePoint, in addition to supporting Exchange Active Sync for email, calendar and contacts, she said.

”I’m not sure how many people are going to want to do a lot of Office work on a phone,” Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner, said recently. “A tablet’s going to be a lot more important.”

Of course, there’s no reason that users have to live in the world that Microsoft has created. Plenty of Android office apps allow document creation or editing, both on a phone or tablet: Google Drive, of course, allows for Google’s own documents to be created; and Google’s own QuickOffice, Documents to Go, and OfficeSuite Pro 7 are all arguably as good or better choices than Microsoft’s offerings.

In one way, editing or creating an Office document on a mobile phone is counter-intuitive; too many people still append some sort of signature file on a mobile phone to explain away any typos or shorthand.

Within a business document, however, typos simply shouldn’t appear. Office Mobile can certainly stand in to enable last-minute changes while on the go, but they shouldn’t be considered as serious tools for document creation. And that’s exactly how Microsoft appears to want it.

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