On the Microsoft front …
Well, on the Microsoft side of things, a couple of areas are becoming a bit clearer. Not much, but a bit.
At the National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Convention & Expo in New York, Microsoft issued a press release entitled “Microsoft Delivers Windows Embedded 8 Handheld for Enterprise Handheld Devices.” That title is a bit misleading as those handhelds, prototypes of which were shown by Motorola Solutions, are not available yet, and Microsoft won’t even release the Windows Embedded 8 Handheld SDK until later this year. However, after having stranded the vertical and industrial market with the by now very obsolete Windows Embedded Handheld (nee Windows Mobile 6.5) for a good couple of years, at least now it looks like Microsoft will offer a vertical market version of Windows Phone 8 for all those who want a handheld with a Microsoft OS on it instead of Android.
There will, of course, not be an upgrade path from Windows Mobile/Embedded Handheld to Windows Embedded 8 Handheld, just as there wasn’t one from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone 7, or from Windows Phone 7/7.5 to Windows Phone 8. Still, at least having the prospect of soon getting an up-to-date mini Windows OS that’s reasonably compatible with Windows 8 itself should be a huge relief to all those rugged handheld manufacturers who’ve been under increasing pressure of offering Android-based devices. Then again, Microsoft once again pre-announcing a product that doesn’t even ship its SDK yet will also further perpetuate the uncertain vertical market handheld OS status quo, and likely lead to more customers deciding to simply get readily available consumer smartphones instead of waiting for the vertical market smoke to clear.
On the tablet side, we have the, by most accounts, less than stellar reception of Windows 8. Microsoft will likely correct the situation with Windows 8 over time, but as far as tablets go, it’s pretty easy to draw some preliminary conclusions: Like, no matter how good the Windows Surface RT tablet hardware was/is, without being able to run what most people will consider “Windows” for many years to come, Windows RT is simply not going to fly. If the Metro interface were a runaway hit and there were tons of Metro apps, perhaps. But as is, anyone who needs to use any “legacy” Windows software is out of luck with Windows RT. So it’s a Windows CE situation all over again: Windows RT must not be too powerful or else it’ll eat into Windows 8 marketshare. And there can’t be a perception that ARM-based tablets are capable of running “real” Windows, or else there’d be no reason to spend a lot more for Intel-based tablet.