Mobile Fix: Microsoft’s new tablet impresses…
Simon Andrews, founder of the full service mobile agency addictive!, on Microsoft; Amazon and Google…
Microsoft
This week the most interesting stories are around Microsoft. The new Microsoft tablet – called the Surface – looks good and has impressed most people, although details like price and launch date remain unknown.
Clearly a response to the iPad, the Surface is also a big part of the Windows8 story. As the big play for Microsoft the success of the software, which has received a pretty positive response, depends on getting hardware companies to use and use it properly.
The Surface is a way to encourage the market to use Windows8 to its full potential.
Microsoft is also moving forwards in terms of the mobile use of Windows8 with the launch of Windows Phone 8, which again has garnered a positive reaction. However, it has emerged that all those early adopters of Windows phones who bought the Nokia Lumia, have been sold a bit of a pup (as they say in Leeds).
There is no way to upgrade phones that work on WP7 – like the Lumia – which sounds like a good way to alienate some of your most valuable customers.
We would be amazed if Microsoft and Nokia didn’t announce some sort of programme to swap WP7 Lumia for the new WP8 device, so it could be a good marketing ploy to boost the launch in the Autumn.
Amazon
Amazon has announced that its app store is going international, which suggests the Kindle Fire is too.
The Amazon app store for Android has been a big success in the US and will be available in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain this summer, with more countries following.
Despite suggestions that sales were faltering, the consensus seems to be that the Fire is still selling well. And there are lots of rumours that the Kindle2 will launch shortly. Will Europe get the new device or the old one? Our feeling is that Amazon would look to maximise the attractiveness to developers by making the Kindle 2 more widely available.
The other players in eBook readers are having a hard time. Barnes and Noble results this week showed that their eReader – the Nook – suffered a 10% drop in sales.
As Google prepares for its I/O Developer conference next week there are rumours that it will announce its next play in the tablet market, with the much anticipated Nexus tablet, probably built by ASUS.
Then again some of the rumours are driven by people analysing the Android app for the event and taking clues from subtle differences in colours and transparencies. These could suggest we’ll see the next version of Android software – Jelly Bean Sandwich. We’ll see.
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