Last week we reported that PC vendors – including Hewlett Packard (HP) – were up in arms over Microsoft’s recent decision to enter the lucrative tablet market with its indigenously designed Surface device.
And now Acer founder Stan Shih has weighed in on the controversy, saying Microsoft should stick to coding software instead of attempting to break into the tablet space.
“I think Microsoft’s getting involved in the hardware business is designed to promote its Win8 [operating system],” Shih opined in a statement quoted by the WantChinaTimes.
“But I sincerely recommend they withdraw from the hardware market when they get what they want.”
According to Shih, Redmond’s Surface tablet will compete with devices introduced by various hardware manufacturers – which are also Microsoft’s business partners.
“I think they will [ultimately] consider and decide the best solution for themselves,” he added.
Meanwhile, Charlie Demerjian of SemiAccurate says he believes Microsoft has “utterly failed” in the lucrative mobile space, as illustrated by the less than stellar sales of Windows Phone 7.
“[However], rather than learning from their past mistakes, [Redmond is] repeating them for tablets. Taken together, it is painfully apparent that Microsoft management does not comprehend mobile computing,” Demerjian wrote in an extensive analysis published earlier this week.
“Instead of modifying their strategy to deal with the new realities that face them, they are circling the wagons ever tighter to disastrous effect. The question now is not if the mobile plans will work, they won’t, but how much the repercussions will end up costing.”
