Microsoft may launch own tablet

Microsoft Corp, the world’s largest software maker, is gearing up to unveil its own tablet to boost its new Windows 8 operating system and counter Apple’s hot-selling iPad, according to media reports on Friday. Such an effort, which the company has not confirmed, would be a departure from its usual focus on software and potentially throw Microsoft into direct competition with its closest hardware partners such as Samsung Electronics and Hewlett-Packard. The world’s largest software company has invited the media to a “major” announcement in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, but has not provided any details. In the absence of information, talk is swirling that Microsoft will introduce its own tablet, according to anonymously sourced reports in the New York Times and the AllThingsD tech blog. Microsoft declined comment on the subject and those reports. It is not the first time such talk has surfaced, as Microsoft looks for a way to make an impact with its new tablet-friendly Windows 8 operating system and put the best product it can in the market to counter Apple’s iPad. Apple, which makes both hardware and software for greater control over the performance of the final product, has revolutionised mobile markets with its smooth, seamless phones and tablets. Rival Google may experiment with a similar approach after buying phone maker Motorola Mobility this year. “Anything is possible if they don’t feel their partners are doing it right,” said Michael Silver, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner. “But it’s hard to compete with companies that sell your stuff and still have a great relationship with them.” Other analysts suggested an own-branded tablet may be chiefly aimed at kick-starting the market for Windows tablets working on ARM Holdings microprocessors — a new venture for Microsoft, which has traditionally relied on Intel chips. Microsoft charges hardware makers $50 or more to incorporate its software in machines and analysts suggest that hardware makers are struggling to produce tablets at a low enough price to challenge the iPad. By making its own tablets, Microsoft would presumably use its software for free, bringing down the overall price. “It suggests to me that they’ve struggled to get OEMs [hardware makers] on board to bring the prices down, so they feel they have to subsidise these products to get them out of the door, at least in the first iteration,” said Al Hilwa, an analyst at tech research firm IDC. Making its own hardware for such an important product would be a departure for Microsoft, which based its success on licensing its software to other manufacturers, stressing the importance of “partners” and the Windows “ecosystem.” When it has ventured into hardware, the Washington-based company has a mixed record. Apart from keyboards and mice, the Xbox game console was its first foray into major manufacturing. That is now a successful business, but only after billions of dollars of investment and overcoming problems with high rates of faulty units — a problem which was nicknamed the “red ring of death” by gamers. The company’s Microsoft-branded Zune music player, a late rival to Apple’s iPod, was not a success and its unpopular Kin phone was taken off the market shortly after introduction. Microsoft has tried hard to generate the type of excitement Apple gets for its secretive product launches, but usually disappoints. Talk was rife at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2010 that Microsoft would pre-empt Apple’s iPad with a slate of its own devising, but it never materialised. The company killed off a two-screen, slate-style prototype called Courier later that year, saying the technology might emerge in another form later on. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corp. has agreed to purchase Yammer, operator of a social network for businesses, for $1.2 billion, said a person familiar with the matter. The deal is expected to be announced by the end of June, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Dee Anna McPherson, a spokeswoman for Yammer, to comment on a potential acquisition, as did Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Microsoft. Microsoft could add Yammer's corporate social networking tools to its Office and SharePoint software products for businesses. Large information-technology companies are snapping up nimbler startups, sometimes before they reach an initial public offering, spending $17.4 billion on enterprise software acquisitions in 2011, compared with $715.5 million in 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show. A deal for Yammer would follow other recent enterprise software purchases centered around social media. Salesforce.com gained social-marketing tools through its $745 million purchase of Buddy Media earlier this month, and Oracle recently bought two companies that analyse data on social-media sites Vitrue and Collective Intellect. Venture funding San Francisco-based Yammer was founded in 2008 by David Sacks, the former chief operating officer at PayPal Inc. It has raised more than $140 million in funding from venture firms, including Charles River Ventures and Emergence Capital Partners. Yammer is used by more than 200,000 companies, including Ford and eBay. It provides features for internal corporate use that are similar to those found on Facebook’s website. Yammer competes with Jive Software, Chatter, run by Salesforce.com., and Asana, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz's company. Microsoft shares rose 2.3 per cent to $30.02 at Friday’s close in New York. The stock has increased 16 per cent this year. From gulfnews