Saturday, September 10, 2011
Microsoft is reportedly preparing to enter the
tablet computing battle and take on the Apple iPad via a deal with the hardware
maker Samsung
 |
| Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive |
According to a Korean newspaper, the
pair are due to announce the collaboration at Microsoft’s Build conference in
California next week.
The hardware will run a version of
Windows 8, according to the Korea Economic Daily, which cited an industry
source.
"This new product manufactured by
Samsung will be the company's first collaboration with Microsoft in its
hardware devices," the source reportedly said.
Microsoft and Samsung declined to
comment on the report.
Microsoft has already trailed Windows 8
ahead of the conference, and documents leaked in June suggested a version for tablets,
optimised for low-power ARM processors, was in development. Such a strategy
would be in contrast to Apple, which develops iOS mobile operating system for
both tablets and smartphones, with its desktop operating system, OSX, separate.
Microsoft has long been expected to
attempt to challenge Apple’s dominant iPad and the many of tablets based on
Google’s Android operating system.
In July last year, the firm’s chief
executive Steve Ballmer said that building tablets was “job number one”, but no
major announcements followed.
A tablet tie-up with Samsung could
significantly alter the mobile computing landscape. The Korean firm already
makes smartphones that run Windows Phone 7, but has so far based its Galaxy
tablets on Android.
Last last month Google bought rival
manufacturer Motorola Mobility, however, prompting speculation it would receive
preferential treatment by the search giant. Court documents published yesterday
as part of a software patent battle between Oracle and Google appeared to confirm
that speculation.
