EPUBLISHING SERVICES - EPUBS, EBOOKS, EMAGS, IOS BOOKS, XML, FLIPBOOKS, DIGITIZATION
EPUBLISHING SERVICES - EPUBS, EBOOKS, EMAGS, IOS BOOKS, XML
PRE-MEDIA AND CREATIVE SOLUTIONS & SERVICES
OMNiON provides a full range of services for execute Read More..
AD DESIGN, IMAGING, LAYOUT, ILLUSTRATION
Advertising design involves assembling a variety Read More..
INTEL & MICROSOFT’S SECRET WEAPON AGAINST APPLE
Intel and its partners are about to launch the biggest promotion of a new product category called Ultrabooks since the company’s wi-fi based Centrino launch early last decade. And Microsoft is about to launch a major update to Windows called Windows 8 that introduces the new Metro touch user interface. Together they are critical products for the future of each company individually.
In the case of Ultrabooks, I actually see them as the natural evolution of laptops and not revolutionary, as Intel would like us to think. Rather, they take advantage of the industry’s constant push to make things smaller, lighter, thinner and with better battery life. For mainstream users who have had to lug around their rather bulky laptops for the past five years, they would be justified in asking Intel and the PC vendors, “What took you so long?” given that Apple has had their MacBook Air on the market for five years and defined what an Ultrabook should be.
And with Windows 8 and Metro, Microsoft is also following an evolutionary path toward touch user interfaces with its Metro-based smart phones and soon-to-be Metro-based tablets and PCs. Again, consumers could ask Microsoft, “What took you so long?” since Apple has had its touch user interface on the iPhone for five years and on its iPads for two years.
But both products will face several interesting challenges when they launch later this year. In the case of Ultrabooks, they’ll most likely have starting prices of between $799 and $899, though I hear there could be at least one — a stripped-down model — that could be as low as $699. At these prices, they’ll completely miss the mainstream laptop market that represents the bulk of laptops sold at prices between $299 and $599.
In the case of Windows 8 and Metro, while Metro is great on Microsoft’s phones and works very well on the tablets I’ve tested, it doesn’t translate well to the laptop or PC, since 100% of existing PCs don’t have touch screens. And most PC vendors are not putting touch screens on the majority of their new laptops because to do so adds at least another $100 to $150 in cost to the customer. If you’ve tested the consumer preview of Windows 8 and Metro on an existing laptop, you know how frustrating it is to use with existing trackpads. I consider this a potential Achilles’ heel for Windows 8, and one that could really hurt its short-term prospects.
26 March, 2012, by Tim Bajarin | @bajarin