Microsoft is scheduled to produce a new series of Surface tablets in the coming months, which also includes a 7 inch version. With the emergence of Apple and Android as popular operating systems, the $75 billion empire seeks to move out more volumes of their products and has done so in the recent past by offering huge discounts on software, updates and other products. With the tablet market being the next big market after smartphones, Microsoft wants to tap into the highly lucrative market which the Google Nexus 7 and the iPad Mini (7.9 inches) have managed to make their own.
IDC, a prominent market research firm, noted that more than half the tablets that were sold in the fourth quarter of the year were less than 8 inches in size and changed the way producers looked at smaller tablet computers. While Microsoft refused to comment on this report, it comes as no surprise that the Redmond-based company is expanding into this industry as its laptop and desktop sales have been hit in a big way according to latest reports. According to reports compiled by Gartner and IDC, volumes of PC’s sold fell by double digit percentages in the first quarter of 2013 as compared to last year. Even the October debut of the new Windows 8 OS did not rekindle the PC market and may have even further added to the deterioration in the market. Microsoft thus, essentially, seeks to make up lost ground on the mini-tablet market since it has no products in this category (except the 10.6 inch Surface RT and Pro, but they belong to a larger category of tablets).
Microsoft publicly claims that consumers today are asking for cheaper alternatives to traditional touch-screen devices and in order to cater to every taste, a wider range of touch-screen tablets and PC’s are being released in different price ranges. Microsoft thus seems to be trying to widen its focus from software to hardware. According to Wall Street Journal reports, Microsoft is set to offer huge discounts for its flagship Windows 8 OS and Microsoft Office, in order to encourage consumers to buy hardware which enables the use of this software.
These forays into the tablet market may present a plethora of new challenges to the software giant but may just change its fortunes and aid its revival. With reports saying that Microsoft is on its way to announcing a Surface smartphone, this may be a sign of good things to come.
