>- Much lower cost compared to iPad

I don't think that's going to happen mainly because Apple has actually been reasonably priced in this space. Most competitors - even the asian 'cheapo' brands - today aren't bringing out Android tablets that are cheaper which is very telling.

>IMO, Windows can become the number 2 tablet, but if they don't do EVERYTHING differntly, it will be just another competitor, mired among the Android tablets that aren't doing anything.

Not so sure about that. While it may very well be that the tablet specific features will not be the hot thing that Microsoft expects but Windows 8 as a whole is likely to be a winner with a refined and more tuned version of Windows 7 for the desktop. The tablet stuff will be a bonus IMHO and one that might eventually sway people in the direction of a Windows tablet.

Personally to me the compelling story is:

* One device that I can use to both run in tablet mode and do a reasonable amount of desktop work for hte near term. Note a notebook replacement for heavy duty work yet, but something that at least allows running all of the stuff that you run on your computer in addition to the glossy tablet platform.

iPads/Tablets current are cute but they're not meant to replace notebooks and they simply can't do everything. Even when it comes to social media applications they are lacking (think about iPAd has no IO ports for getting content into it to publish for example.

I think the compelling Windows 8 story is that it will one platform that does both. I wouldn't be surprised if future versions of MacOS will do the same. They'll have to or be lost in the shuffle. I think that's where we're heading and frankly that should have ALWAYS been the target. iPad is just an intermediate stop along the way.

With demand for tablets will come better hardware that can handle the performance and battery requirements for both.

+++ Rick ---

>Touch is a first class citizen and enabled throughout. The Metro UI is the default UI and optimized for touch. WinRT is specifically designed to allow Windows to be run on x86, x64, and ARM processors. If you look at Apple products, it's an entirely different paradigm for mobile devices compared to desktop. Microsoft will have a single paradigm across all devices. IMO, that's smart.
>
>MSFT wants to battle the iPad head on. But there are some things they need to do to succeed.
>
>- Long battery life. 8+ hours
>- Light weight, thin and powerful tablets
>- Much lower cost compared to iPad
>- App store full of great apps that people want, not 500 fart apps
>- Lots of marketing that is compelling. Throw away everything they've done in the past and start over. The marketing needs to be sustained, not just the first couple of weeks
>- We're probably a year away from release. MSFT needs to try to figure out what an iPad 4 will look like and target that as their competition.
>
>I read recently in a column that people don't buy tablets. They buy iPads. Microsoft needs to convince people that they need a tablet.
>
>IMO, Windows can become the number 2 tablet, but if they don't do EVERYTHING differntly, it will be just another competitor, mired among the Android tablets that aren't doing anything.
>
>
>>Not really the issue IMO. They aren't introducing it into the tablet space, they are seating it at the main table. I haven't quite figured out the wisdom of that strategy yet.