FollowThe latest IDC report covering tablet usage pattern or their sale mentions about the good future that beholds Windows tablets compared to the dismal state it is in right now. The report predicts a 10.2 percent market share to be held by Windows tablets by 2017, which can be considered to be a little over three times than the 3 percent market share that it is expected to reach by end 2013. However, even with the enhanced growth rate, Windows is not expected to pose any serious threat to either Android or iOS even four years from now. Android tablets that are projected to have 60.8 percent market share this year is expected to see its sphere of influence drop slightly to 58.8 percent by 2017. Apple iOS is projected to face an even steeper decline of its market share by that time, from a projection 35 percent this year to 30.6 percent by 2017.
Tom Mainelli, the research director at IDC theorizes that Microsoft is following a very aggressive marketing process that includes price and number of units being pushed into the market. However, he feels that it is the Windows operating system itself along with its not-so-developed ecosystem of apps and other content that is acting as retarders to the otherwise rapid ingress of the Windows tablets in the market.
In his opinion the creation of one single OS for both desktop and tablet was not a wise decision as it has led to confusion amongst customers. People, he feels, do not want the complications that the desktop environment has on their tablet. There are also the different flavors of Window that is RT for ARM processor based devices and the Windows 8 for those devices sporting the Intel x86 processors that is further adding to the confusion in the mind of the consumer. Even developers for building application on these OS have their share of woes which does not auger well for the overall presence of the OS and the device that sports this OS.
Another aspect is different vendors offering Windows tablets is another bit of confusion in the whole package. While Microsoft, Mainelli, feels have not yet had one single big hit in any of its tablet products, they have also ventured into the multifunctional contraptions where the tablet turns into a laptop or vice versa. All of this has only added to their woes.
Only good and innovative marketing strategies he feels can make any change in the current dismal scenario that Microsoft faces in the tablet sector.
