Consumers yearning for a Windows OS tablet

[Shawn Knight]

Consumers are more eager than ever to buy a tablet, so long as it’s running a Windows operating system. A new study indicates that Microsoft is leaving the competition in the dust when it comes to desired tablet operating system. The only issue is they haven’t delivered yet. Actually, I take that back – there are Windows 7 tablets on the market, but they aren’t the sleek and sexy units that the competition is offering.

Windows 8 hopes aims to be just that, but that OS is still a long way out in tech time and buyers want something now.

A recent study from Boston Consulting Group reveals that 42 percent of US consumers prefer a Windows operating system on a tablet over all others. iOS came in second at 27 percent with Android rounding out the podium at 20 percent. BlackBerry, PalmOS and MeeGo all had less than 10 percent each.

Chinese consumers share a similar tablet OS desire. As much as 44 percent of those polled selected Windows, 34 percent preferred iOS and only 18 percent chose Android. Collectively, BlackBerry, PalmOS and MeeGo were only preferred by 5 percent of individuals.

And it’s not just one study, either. In August, a Forrester Research report showed that 46 percent of consumers prefer Windows on their tablet. Meanwhile, 16 percent wanted iOS and only 9 percent leaned towards Android.

Research studies aside, it’s clear that Microsoft is still a very desirable brand and the company is only hurting themselves each day they don’t bring Windows 8 to market.

If you were to buy a tablet, what OS would you prefer? Let us know in the comments below!

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/45762-consumers-yearning-for-a-windows-os-tablet.html

 

[spydercanopus]

I yearn for one with an ethernet jack and a usb port.

 

[Recycle]

I love working with my HP Tablet PC, but the thing has no battery life and is much too bulky and heavy to comfortably carry without resting it on a desk.
Give me a tablet with a stylus and Windows 7/8!

 

[Guest]

I will eventually be purchasing a tablet, but it must have Windows 8, wi-fi, USB and an SD slot. In addition it must be able to dock to a keyboard. Until then these devices are nothing more than expensive little entertainment systems and I won't make that kind of investment in a toy.

 

[Guest]

Somple, just do what I did, buy a tablet, download the Windows 8 Preview, install it and Bingo, sweet ***** tablet running windows. This preview version is amazingly stable and will do most of what you need for now

 

[Mudvayne819]

i want a tablet, as good as the ipad2 (tech-wise) but with a 1 or more usb port, and/or thunderbolt port, and a linux distribution or windows 7/8 on it.im a apple certified technician, i work in a apple repair center and yes all tablets on the market sucks, they are all toys for the rich people, i have an ipad i got gifted, cauz i wouldnt buy those things unless its like a computer.

Also i dont want of a table that doesnt let me install what i want on it like the ipad, too much restriction, i dont have any restriction on what i can install on it, when im working on a pc or a mac, the same thing should be said about tablets.

and if the company developping the tablets dont want their product jailbreak, then release 2 brand of that tablet, one for the user friendly and the other one for developpers, i dont want an os that take me by the hand to do stuff that is simple for me, maybe the mainstream users want that, but i dont.

a tablet should be just like a PC, minus optical drive, keyboard, mouse etc and i should be able to intall any software on it, not just those meant to be installed on that system, thats just dumb

 

[Cota]

A windows 7 tablet asap sounds good, but i wouldn't buy it at the current CPU power they have rite now, however i would consider buying one that lets me use all my low performance apps, like Download managers, defrag/security apps, remote managers and that haves USB 2.0 that at least manages to give ~30MB/s transfers.
Now that would let me change my "work" desktop to a less energy hungry tablet =D

 

[emmzo]

Guest said:
I will eventually be purchasing a tablet, but it must have Windows 8, wi-fi, USB and an SD slot. In addition it must be able to dock to a keyboard. Until then these devices are nothing more than expensive little entertainment systems and I won't make that kind of investment in a toy.

I would add a HDMI to that and also it should be an x86 tablet so I can port all my desktop apps.

 

[Guest]

I have an ASUS EP121. For productivity it is great.
The touch is "good enough" (Win7) and the stylus enhances the tablet experience.
The specs are impressive, but the same specs reduce battery life.
For me it is a more mobile alternative to my laptop, without losing the usefulness of the laptop.

The real question is "What do you want from a tablet?"

If it is a more portable laptop, then a Windows tablet is the way to go.
Windows 8 will allow a greater choice of hardware including "ARM" variants, and improve
the touch/gesture experience.

If you are looking for an "Entertainment tablet", then Windows is not the best
tablet.

Windows 8 will close the divide between Ipad/Android in the touch area, but it still comes down to what you want to do with the tablet.

 

[demonlord721]

Sweet, consumers will get what they want. Windows 8 is a tablet os not a desktop OS I don't care what they say. I have it installed right now and my productivity with keyboard and mouse and native desktop functionality is at about 10% of what it used to be. I can see it being just fine for tablets as the whole interface is designed to be used like a phone/tablet.

 

[mynameis]

I just sold my Moto Xoom. The tablets that are on the market right now are just not quite at the point where they provide the level of usability I need in order to justify the price. I think the touch controls I have used when playing with Windows 7 touchscreen desktops have seemed pretty promising. Its too bad Microsoft axed the Courier tablet that they were working on, that thing looked cool.

 

[Guest]

Really!

It is important to note that this survey was taken at the Redmond campus in Washington.

I am sure that would not have any influence on the results.

 

[Burty117]

mudvayne819 said:
i want a table,

What?! Really?! well I have one for sale if you want one?

mudvayne819 said:
as good as the ipad2

Wait? Hold on there son, they make a table sized iPad 2?!

mudvayne819 said:
(tech-wise)

oooww...

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

I'm one of these... we have some HP Slate 500's at work but i'm not very impressed. For personal though, I need HDMI, an ethernet port, full size USB ports, proper docking station to use it as a full on PC at my desk, and user-replaceable battery. I also demand a quality 10" display, a nice IPS panel or similar type. The display on the HP Slate is terrible...

I'm testing Windows 8 on the HP Slate, but I haven't really had time to play with it. Initially, i'm not really impressed, but I hope Microsoft can grab the tablet market here because I really, really need a tablet that runs Windows. Android OS is a great, small and efficient OS for phones, but it will never replace a full on PC. A tablet with Windows will, if it has the right stuff.

 

[TJGeezer]

Guest said:
I will eventually be purchasing a tablet, but it must have Windows 8, wi-fi, USB and an SD slot. In addition it must be able to dock to a keyboard. Until then these devices are nothing more than expensive little entertainment systems and I won't make that kind of investment in a toy.

Yeah, what Guest said. I don't need or want such toys but make them a real tool and I'd go for it. Win8 seems to me to have the best chance of delivering something I need, if the hardware it comes with is up to the task. Meanwhile, not interested.

 

[Guest]

Got an ExoPC (Windows 7 slate), pretty happy with it overall.

What it isn't good at:
1. Battery life is under 4 hours on low to moderate usage - videos or gaming will suck more power.
2. Graphics is a crappy Intel onboard chip, so don't expect to be able to do much 3D gaming (runs Civ4 well enough but only with all detail options on minimum and even then the fan goes nuts trying to keep up).
3. Speaking of the fan, it can get a bit noisy, but nothing too major.

What it is good at:
1. 2 x USB 2.0 ports + 1 x SD slot + 1 x SIM card slot = plenty of flexibility. I've plugged my Xbox 360 controller in to use with emulated Amiga games via WinUAE. Plug in USB hubs, external storage, headphones, cameras, phones, printers, scanners, keyboard/mouse, USB-to-ethernet adapters, etc.
2. Install and run pretty much any Windows application (more of which are becoming touch-friendly). Check out ComicRack if you're into eComics, Calibre and MobiPocket Reader for eBooks, etc. Plenty of free and/or open source apps out there that don't lock you in to a specific ecology (Apple store, Android store, Amazon store, etc).
3. Business applications and integration with enterprise systems.

 

[aj_the_kidd]

Guest said:
Really!

It is important to note that this survey was taken at the Redmond campus in Washington.

I am sure that would not have any influence on the results.

I think is has more to do with the fact that win8 is a full OS whilst iOS and Android are mobile OS's. Its like the Chrome Books, why spend all that money on a half arsed OS when you can get Netbook with a full version of windows. This study to me indicates that yes people want a tablet but they want a tablet with a bit more functionality then what is available, Win8 gives them that.

 

[Guest]

I wonder if the Ipad 4 will have MS-DOS 6.22 ?

 

[Guest]

You really must not know very much, if you do not consider IOS and Android as full operating systems.

Maybe you should Google what an Operating System is before you start commenting.

 

[supportme]

Am a MS fanboy. So Windows it is !!!

 

[Guest]

If I buy a tablet, then it should have Windows 8!
I don't mind the wait.

 

[Guest]

I want to know about which one is best windows tablet or android tablet for application development wise, cost wise, reduced development time...

kindly anyone give your suggestion..

 

[Guest]

well said...sandytvl

 

[Guest]

I really want my freedom to choose what ever I want to use on my tablet, I don't want to pay for some software which I don't want to use or dare to use as it's so insecure and alien as that thing from that american company outside Seattle.

I usually spend quite a much time with my initial setup, making sure that all installed software is optimized for the CPU/GPU in use, stream line the device to only have the software I want to use on them (why have a million *****ic programs installed, which you never will be using).

Sadly the notebook and tablet market are so much dominated by one or two companies limited software, that you will not get the freedom to install what you want to use without having to pay "tax" to thise companies just to get your hands on the hardware and many times they are locked, as we will see with the UEFI motherboards in a near future, the hardware manufactorers will blame the software company who usually steals FOSS code and the software company will blame the hardware manufactorers that you can't do what you want with your hardware.

But I guess most readers here don't care, feels like you are happy that someone else tells you what to use and how to use it and you pay prices far over the market value.

 

[Joel416]

Chinese consumers share a similar tablet OS desire.
44% of the poll selected Windows,34 % preferred iOS and only 18% chose Android.
Collectively, BlackBerry, PalmOS and MeeGo were only 5% of individuals.

Microsoft is still a very desirable brand and the company is only hurting themselves
each day they don?t bring Windows 8 to market.

I'm disappointed that a CPM tablet is not offered in Spanish. Very disappointed.