Chance Furlong
2010-11-04 17:53:26 UTC
From Electronista:
Microsoft Windows exec says iPad cannibalizing netbooks
http://tinyurl.com/29zuxfb
Typical of Microshaft and its employees to bitch and moan.
updated 09:45 am EDT, Thu November 4, 2010Windows exec admits iPad
hurting netbook sales
Microsoft's Windows product management GM Gavriella Schuster surprised
the industry with remarks that the iPad was taking away netbook sales.
When asked about the trend, the division leader said netbooks were
"definitely getting cannibalized" by tablets, of which the iPad is
nearly the only model. Both netbooks and tablets were "and" devices that
were supplements to a main computer, she stressed to Seattle's Post
Intelligencer, but this made netbooks vulnerable.
Schuster quickly qualified the remarks by pointing to Windows adoption
case studies that showed the platform as still healthy. Microsoft has
sold 240 million Windows 7 licenses in the past year, significantly more
than any previous Windows release.
The statements nonetheless directly contradict attempts to reassure
investors during Microsoft's fiscal results call, when the company
insisted that it wasn't seeing a shift away from netbooks or low-end
notebooks towards iPads. Most evidence so far has pointed towards
Schuster's interpretation, as NPD researchers saw some buying iPads over
netbooks. Best Buy recently acknowledged that netbook sales dropped by
half in many of the stores where the iPad was on sale.
Other factors have been attributable to the decline of the netbook,
including a lack of meaningful performance upgrades from Intel and a
tough economy that has discouraged buying non-essential computing
hardware, but Apple's relatively strong iPad sales have suggested at
least some buyers have switched form factors. The choice could be a
significant concern for Microsoft as it has no direct answer to Apple's
design in the short term. Tablets using Windows 7 and Intel's Oak Trail
platform aren't due until early 2011, and the more mobile Windows
Embedded Compact 7 also won't arrive until the same time.
Current Windows tablets make up less than 2.2 percent of the market and
have been so far shunted to the enterprise and other niche industries,
including the HP Slate 500. The one-time flagship has been marginalized
enough that HP has declined to give any media outlets review units.
Microsoft Windows exec says iPad cannibalizing netbooks
http://tinyurl.com/29zuxfb
Typical of Microshaft and its employees to bitch and moan.
updated 09:45 am EDT, Thu November 4, 2010Windows exec admits iPad
hurting netbook sales
Microsoft's Windows product management GM Gavriella Schuster surprised
the industry with remarks that the iPad was taking away netbook sales.
When asked about the trend, the division leader said netbooks were
"definitely getting cannibalized" by tablets, of which the iPad is
nearly the only model. Both netbooks and tablets were "and" devices that
were supplements to a main computer, she stressed to Seattle's Post
Intelligencer, but this made netbooks vulnerable.
Schuster quickly qualified the remarks by pointing to Windows adoption
case studies that showed the platform as still healthy. Microsoft has
sold 240 million Windows 7 licenses in the past year, significantly more
than any previous Windows release.
The statements nonetheless directly contradict attempts to reassure
investors during Microsoft's fiscal results call, when the company
insisted that it wasn't seeing a shift away from netbooks or low-end
notebooks towards iPads. Most evidence so far has pointed towards
Schuster's interpretation, as NPD researchers saw some buying iPads over
netbooks. Best Buy recently acknowledged that netbook sales dropped by
half in many of the stores where the iPad was on sale.
Other factors have been attributable to the decline of the netbook,
including a lack of meaningful performance upgrades from Intel and a
tough economy that has discouraged buying non-essential computing
hardware, but Apple's relatively strong iPad sales have suggested at
least some buyers have switched form factors. The choice could be a
significant concern for Microsoft as it has no direct answer to Apple's
design in the short term. Tablets using Windows 7 and Intel's Oak Trail
platform aren't due until early 2011, and the more mobile Windows
Embedded Compact 7 also won't arrive until the same time.
Current Windows tablets make up less than 2.2 percent of the market and
have been so far shunted to the enterprise and other niche industries,
including the HP Slate 500. The one-time flagship has been marginalized
enough that HP has declined to give any media outlets review units.