Software major Microsoft is expected to come out with two Surface tablet models, which Acer CEO J.T.Wang told the Washington-based company in a statement to the Financial Times, "We have said think it over".
Wang said, "Think twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction. It is not something you are good at so please think twice."
The two tablets Microsoft is expected to come up with are the Surface, running Windows RT on an ARM-based NVIDIA Tegra processor and the Surface Pro, running Windows 8 on an Intel Ivy Bridge processor. Surface Windows RT is pitted for the tablet market while the Pro version acts like a tablet and delivers performance similar to that of a netbook.
The criticism towards Microsoft doesn't come out as shocking as most of the hardware vendors like Dell, Acer and HP systems feature Windows operating system. Financial Times cited Campbell Kan, Acer's president for personal computer global operations, as saying, "If Microsoft...is going to do hardware business, what should we do? Should we still rely on Microsoft, or should we find other alternatives?"
This sort of statement is rightly in tune with the comments earlier made by Microsoft warning that "Our Surface devices will compete with products made by our OEM partners, which may affect their commitment to our platform." Surely OEMs like Acer should be worried as their future plans may be altered if Microsoft enters the hardware business.
The frustration seems to be quite evident with these comments, but the real truth is that the PC market is generally overshadowed by the mobile OS devices. Apple has scaled the heights with the launch of iPhones and iPad and reaped huge profits which in turn reflect the envy of the industry. Google and Amazon have slowly but smartly pushed themselves into the mobile market while Microsoft's attempts have been a big failure with Windows Phone 8 venture. What is left of Microsoft is that the Windows giant has a lot of catching up to do and hence their move to support their software with hardware to build an efficient eco-system clearly seems in line with Apple's ideology.
