September 13, 2011 By
Windows 8 will take advantage of tablet and phone-centric ARM aside from Intel CPU.
Smartphones are considered as one of the biggest markets today. In fact, Apple with its iPhone smartphones have given the company the money to burn.Meanwhile, Android is giving HTC, Samsung and even Motorola Mobility the big arm against the popular iPhone. In fact, HTC has recorded impressive sales with its own diverse Android smartphone line, while Samsung’s new Galaxy S II smartphone is enjoying the “popularity” contest with the fast processor bundled with the popularity of Android. Last known Galaxy S II sales number published online suggested that Samsung has sold more than 5 million Galaxy S II units in less than three months. It is also worth noting that Samsung’s impressive 3-month S2 sales doesn’t include United States yet.
Microsoft on its challenging years, struggles with its Windows Phone operating system, which is arguably not as popular as the iOS operating system-based iPhones, and Android that owns the top spot in the US market share.
HTC and Samsung are also manufacturers of Windows Phone-based devices, but no words from both companies even from third-party firms about the “success” of the Windows Phone-powered smartphones, indirectly suggesting that the refreshed OS is not a “huge success.”
With the new soon-to-be-announced Windows 8 and the Windows Phone mobile operating system, Microsoft is, obviously, not into “copying” the business strategy of Apple when it comes to smartphone and tablet markets play. Instead, Microsoft is expected to compete against Google’s popular operating system, the Android.
According to a report posted by USA Today, Microsoft wants to keep Windows relevant, and will try to revive its popularity ahead of the so-called Post PC era dominated by Google and Apple. Quoting the data provided by Gartner that sales of smartphones will soar 56%, the site said the Redmond-based company will try its best to get its share in the growing post PC devices, dominated by tablets and smartphones, iPads, Android tablets, iPhones and Android smartphones.
Apparently, the Windows 8 operating system, featuring the live tiles or the Metro User Interface (Metro UI) also being used by the Windows Phone OS, will be compatible with touch tablets too just because the operating system will support ARM-based processors, aside from Intel.
Additional reports have added that Samsung, the company behind the popular Galaxy Tab 10.1 powered Tegra 2 CPU, will be the first, if not, one of the first companies to release a Windows 8-based tablet. ARM processors power the smartphones and tablets, so it is quite obvious that Windows 8 may soon arrive in smartphones and tablets too, aside from the conventional PC at home and office.
Microsoft’s Windows 8, as well as its Windows Phone operating system, is expected to face a series of rivals this year and early next year with one from Apple, and multiple devices from Android with some that could include the latest version of the Android operating system, the announced but still unavailable Android 4.0.
Plus, rumors say Apple will introduce a new smartphone next month, the iPhone 5. According to credible sites like Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, etc, the iPhone 5 will include new features that will most likely attract more customers to buy a smartphone, instead of a regular PC. An unlocked iPhone 4, for example, is sporting the tag price of around $700 today, while the cheapest iPad 2 WiFi only is around US$550 (with Tax) today. On the tablet PC department, Apple is expected to introduce the iPad 3 next year — only if Apple will still follow its yearly device cycle. The iPad 2 was launched in April (first month of Q2 2011) of this year.
Both the iPad and the iPhone 4, as well as Android tablets and smartphones, including the highly-expensive HTC Jetstream, are considered as “expensive” products — but consumers are still buying them with some not buying new PCs because they already have an iPad or Android tablet. Worse, some are not buying new PCs anymore because they already bought an expensive smartphone.
Microsoft is probably aware of the emerging smartphone and tablet markets — and they will try to fight back, twice.
Aside from the Windows desktop/tablet operating system that could also join the smartphone market if possible, the tech giant is also rolling out a new mobile operating system update that will power the upcoming Nokia Windows Phone devices, as well as new Windows Phone smartphones from Samsung like the Samsung Focus S, Focus Flash, and one from HTC, the HTC Titan, are also some of the confirmed Windows Phone devices that will arrive in the market. The so-called Windows Phone Mango software update will introduce new features like multitasking, faster internet browser, video chatting support, etc.
Can the Windows 8, or Windows Phone Mango give Apple and Android the “real challenge”?
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