Windows 8 has missed window of opportunity in tablet market, reckons Forrester
Apple may have opened the door to the tablet market when it launched the original iPad in 2010, but according to Forrester, it may have already closed for the firm's rivals.
The latest look into consumer anticipation for tablet devices claims interest in any offering from Microsoft expected when Windows 8 launches in spring 2012 is already falling away.
Back in Q1 2011, 45 percent named tablets running Windows as the device they were most interested in.
Now, Forrester claims, that figure has fallen to 25 percent, suggesting Microsoft is already too late to the party.
Fast foot forward
"Product strategists often look to be 'fast followers' in their product markets. For tablets, though, Windows really isnt a fast follower," concludes Forrester research director JP Gownder.
"Rather it's - at best - a fifth-mover after iPad, Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, HP's now-defunct webOS tablet, and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.
"While Windows' product strategists can learn from these products, other players have come a long way in executing and refining their products Apple, Samsung, and others have already launched second-generation products and will likely be into their third generation by the time Windows 8 launches."
What's most interesting about Gownder's analysis is, while he claimed Forrester is "bullish" on Windows 8 as a whole the OS launching across desktop PCs and tablets he makes no link between the platform's performance on both forms of hardware.
Dual strategy
"Windows ... will lag exceptionally in touch-first, Metro UI apps whenever they finally get a product into the market," Gownder adds in the article's comments section.
"Even if you count all the Windows Phone 7 Metro UI apps ... we're talking around 39,000 apps only."
Of course, aside from the fact Windows 8 tablets are still many months away Windows Phone Marketplace will have grown substantially by that point developers are likely to be drawn to an OS that will have a guaranteed userbase in the millions from day one, thanks to its release on desktop PCs, where Microsoft is still very much the dominant player.
Nonetheless, Gownder believes the decision to target the tablet market with Windows 8, and not Windows 7, will cost Microsoft in the long run.
"Windows 8 tablets must provide consumers with a more differentiated product experience than it otherwise would have, had Microsoft entered the market sooner," he adds.
"In the rapidly evolving tablet market, Amazon - and Barnes & Noble, with its Nook Tablet - demonstrate fast following done right."
[source: Forrester]