Apple's iPad
has dominated the consumer tablet market since its inception, but that hasn't
stopped any number of competitors from taking their own runs at the crown. For
the past several months, tablet after tablet—usually running Google Android,
with occasional exceptions such as webOS—has entered the arena as an ostensible
"iPad killer" only to suffer through anemic sales and lukewarm reviews.
Apple is
hosting an event March 7 where it will almost certainly debut the iPad 3. "We
have something you really have to see. And touch," reads the invitation sent to
the media, which includes an image of a finger touching the calendar app on an
iPad screen. Over the past few months, rumors have focused on the next-generation
tablet's possible features, including a high-resolution screen (in a Feb. 9
article, AllThingsD
pegged the resolution at 2,048 by 1,536), as well as a more powerful processor
and camera.
Those features
might gain the iPad franchise an extra competitive advantage over the
lightweight tablets in the space, but Apple faces a much larger challenge on
the tablet horizon: Windows 8.
On Feb. 29,
Microsoft offered up the Consumer Preview (or beta) of Windows 8, which will
arrive sometime later in 2012. The Consumer Preview can be found in a special
area on Microsoft's Website; the beta's ISO files (for those who wish to
install it on another partition or virtual machine are also available.
In a bid to spread the Windows franchise onto tablets in addition to
traditional PCs, Windows 8's start screen is composed of a set of colorful (and
touchable) tiles linked to applications, with the "old style" desktop interface
accessible via a single click or finger tap.
That alone
might not make Windows 8 a viable iPad competitor, but Microsoft has more up
its sleeve than a sleek user-interface redesign. For months, Microsoft
executives have insisted that their new operating system will provide a robust,
"no compromises" experience. Power users will have access to the usual features
they expect from Windows. The Windows Store will offer a wide variety of apps.
Cloud-related features include cloud storage, the ability to roam all settings,
and communicate with email and contacts from a Windows Phone smartphone or
Windows PC.
With those
features in place, Windows 8 tablets could prove attractive to business users
and consumers who like the familiarity of the Windows brand. But Microsoft will
still have to deal with Apple's significant lead in the space.
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