Mobile
Microsoft’s Craig Mundie Not Sure Tablets are Here To Stay
Microsoft’s Craig Mundie is taking some heat for making some comments before the Committee of Economic Development of Australia in Sydney that he’s not sure Tablets (think iPad) are with us for the long haul. Saying he did not know if Tablets “would remain with us or not,” Mundie is talking long term although the blowback seems to be focused on what’s going on today. And it’s tough to argue that we’re smack dab in the middle of Tablet mania and so thick into it that unless you really put your thinking cap on it is tough to see beyond the reflections in all those Tablet glossy screens.
Mundie’s pointing forward talks about a computing experience being centered on a room and not a device, and of he’s using Kinect as the segue into that kind of experience. That’s fun stuff to imagine, but we all know it’s a ways off.
But before he goes that far out in the future he says the smartphone will become our most personal computer. Well, I think we’re there aren’t we? Or we’re pretty darn close.
The thing is that in these heady, crazy days, things are moving so fast that anyone who tries to pin it down and make some bets for the future has to be considered either foolish or very brave. Of course that distinguishing line has always been a fine one.
Anonymous
03/30/2011 at 5:55 pm
Nice to see MS is supporting tablets as much as ever.
LeMel
03/30/2011 at 6:11 pm
An MS employee is not a neutral agent on this subject – he/she has financial motivation to downplay the significance of tablets. Until that reverses, the talk on tablets from any MS agent will be somewhat non-committal, possibly even equivocating. It’s expected that one can take the deeper meaning of his important insights while keeping that in mind.
Lee
03/31/2011 at 4:33 am
Yes, IBM said the same about PC’s as I recall. This sort of mentality probably relfects the problems endemic at Microsoft who’s strategy has never been to lead, but that is no longer working. The emergence of OS’s like MacOS, iOS & Android and the platforms they are used on is going to fracture the computing space that Microsoft dominates and he’s “not sure”. Evolution happens in the business world too, and Microsoft’s inability to adapt, change and even innovate say that it too is heading the way all those IT companies that did didnt lead the way. Kinect is a fabulous leap forward but its is just a tiny part of what is happening at the moment.