Category: Opinion

If there wasn’t enough pressure on Microsoft with Windows 8, RIM just gave them a reminder that they need to get their tablet strategy right on Day One.

This morning the Wall Street Journal reported that RIM is taking a $485 million charge for their lackluster tablet, the Playbook.  The charge comes by way of a markdown in the value of the massive inventor that RIM still has of the devices.  It is a brutal and costly reminder that if you kinda-sorta-maybe-woulda-shoulda your tablet strategy, the price can be steep.  Very steep.

Which turns my attention to Microsoft.  Redmond has made it clear that Windows 8 will be designed with tablets in mind.  It will have the Metro UI that us Windows Phone users have loved, will be touch input ready and looks to be the first real significant update to the flagship OS since, dare I say, Windows XP.  To this point Microsoft has been somewhat coy about what they ultimately will do with tablets – will they be x86?  Will they be ARM? Will they be both? – but it is clear that the company sees tablets as a part of their future.

Yesterday there was been a lot of discussions around Microsoft reportedly building iPad versions of their Office suite of apps:  Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  The discussions stem from an article in The Daily that reports that the iPad apps are coming along with an update to the Office for Mac suite to better support OS X Lion.  If the rumors are true, I can only say that it is about time.

There are plenty of reasons for Microsoft to make the Office for iPad apps without admitting defeat, sacrificing their own table ambitions with the upcoming Windows 8 release and meeting the needs of likely millions of iPad owners.  And while pundits will suggest that these needs are covered with the iWorks suite from Apple, the install base for the Cupertino suite is only a fraction of that of Microsoft Office.  The opportunity is ripe for Microsoft and it is time to make the move.