Dell signals Windows 8 fondleslab range
Tech supremo drops hints, slates Android
Dell World At Dell World today Michael Dell pretty much said his company will produce a Windows 8 tablet.
He said that fondleslab sales on Android had failed to take off. Talking about tablets he said: "You'll see us very much aligned around the Windows 8 introduction."
He added that a range of slabs will be introduced.
The understanding is that Dell will introduce a range of Windows 8-powered tablets. Whether they will be all-Intel or all-ARM-powered or a mix of the two he didn't say. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is speaking at Dell World today about Windows 8. His keynote will be followed by one given by Intel head honcho Paul Otellini.
Dell struck off its Streak 5 tablet in August. It still has the Android-powered Streak 7, running on an NVIDIA Tegra T20 CPU, and the 10.1-inch display Inspiron Duo running Windows 7 on Atom CPU power.
These tablets have not made any perceptible dent in iPad sales.
The Reg bets is that these Windows 8 tablets are going to be made by Dell using Intel processors and that the Inspiron is going to get replaced. ®
COMMENTS
Hot News: Dell touting to be Microsoft's and Intel's bitch
You rush out some ill-thought models built by Quanta or Kopal or Foxconn against the Ipad find they don't sell and you blame the OS? Well failed Mr Dell. Samsung and HTC are showing what can be done with Android if you are prepared to spend your own money on hardware and software development. You can't expect Google to give you it al, can you?
Run off to Microsoft and Intel for a big marketing budget incentive and everything will be better. Don't forget to turn off the lights when you leave.
Re: so...
[quote]So what does Win8 give that Android doesn't?
Have you had your head in a bucket for the last 6 months? don't you realise windows 8 will have a new file copy dialog that more accurately predicts how long it will be until the file copy is completed!! oh and probably a few other things that nobody has really decided on yet.
The operating system is not the problem
Its just that nobody cares.
If they can make a nice tablet for £200 or under (that's what, $150 for the US?) then it will sell. Otherwise, the absense of an Apple logo will be noted, and the product will be ignored.
Yes
I'm fairly certain it's the enterprise issue. There are three issues. Firstly, corporate IT departments simply aren't comfortable with iPads - they don't know how to develop for them, how to lock them down, or even how to buy them. Apple don't exactly go out of their way to befriend the channel or the enterprise market, and killing Xserve only added to that fear. Dell tablets running Windows are a familiar world to sysadmins.
The second problem is existing enterprise apps. Most large companies have built up a substantial body of Windows and web-based (IE6-based) apps. These can't be ported to iPad without significant expense, not to mention recruiting a whole new team of Objective-C developers. If you're the manager of a team of Microsoft developers who stands to lose resources, you're going to instil as much FUD as possible until your boss stops going on about iPad.
Finally it's an issue of perception. The iPad is perceived as a toy, not as a serious business tool. Nobody in their right mind is likely to buy a Dell Win8 tablet for home use. For businesses this also means they are less likely to be stolen.
Curious
I always thought the Streak was a bit under-powered.
When Dell released Ubuntu systems, they too where knobbled.
It's almost as if they want to make non-Windows OS appear bad.
That can't be right, surely?
