One of the cornerstones of upcoming Windows 8 tablets will be Microsoft Office, but will that be a deal-maker for buyers?

Any Intel-based Windows 8 Pro tablet -- like the one coming from Hewlett-Packard -- will be able to run the regular version of Office, just as it runs today on any Intel-based PC.

And, in April, Microsoft preannounced that tablets running the RT version of Windows 8 will come with Office.

While there is speculation that Microsoft will initially ship a "preview" version of Office 2013 RT (upgradeable soon thereafter) and that the RT version will lack … Read more

Microsoft conceived Windows RT and Surface to compete with the iPad.

And IDC's Bob O'Donnell believes that will dictate pricing. For both Microsoft-branded Surface RT and other Windows RT products from companies like Asus and Dell.

The 32GB iPad (currently $599) has a big bull's eye on its back, O'Donnell told me yesterday. For both Surface and RT devices from Microsoft partners. And throw Windows 8 Pro devices based on Intel's power-efficient system-on-a-chip, aka Atom, into that mix too, said O'Donnell.

Remember, RT tablets use power-frugal ARM chips and come with a version of … Read more

Microsoft is expected to build a little more than 3 million Surface tablets, market researcher IDC told CNET. An IDC analyst also offered his views on the likelihood of a $199 version of the tablet.

Production plans are for a few million units for calendar 2012, said IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell in a phone interview. "Probably a little over 3 million, both [Intel] x86 and ARM," he said. Surface RT is built around ARM processors and will not support older "legacy" software that runs on Windows 7. Intel-based Surface will run Windows 8 Pro that … Read more

During Lenovo's first fiscal quarter 2013 earnings call, executives didn't mince words in attacking Microsoft's Surface strategy.

"Although we don't like Microsoft providing hardware, for us, it just adds one more competitor," Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing said during the conference call in response to analyst's question.

"[They're] just one of our many competitors. We are still confident that we are providing much better hardware than our competitors including Microsoft," he said.

Yuanqing continued. "They are strong in software, but [we] don't believe they can provide the best hardware … Read more

Remember the $99 HP Touchpad fire sale that instantly turned a product fail into a sales win?

So, would Microsoft try to pull a Crazy Eddie and lowball its upcoming Surface tablet to make it an instant hit?

I asked a couple of analysts and checked with some industry sources familiar with Microsoft's strategy, and so far I'm hearing that it's unlikely.

"We'd be astonished to see a $199 price point," said Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and monitor research for IHS iSuppli. "It would be giving away money and losing money at … Read more

Toshiba will join Hewlett-Packard in passing on the first round of tablets based on the RT versions of Windows 8.

This follows the confirmation Monday from Microsoft that Dell, Samsung, and Lenovo will debut tablets and/or convertibles (Asus has already announced its) based on the version of the Windows 8 that runs on ARM chips.

That RT version cannot run the vast library of software written for Intel-based "x86" PCs, though it will have a version of Microsoft Office.

"Toshiba has decided not to introduce Windows RT models due to delayed components that would make a … Read more

Nvidia's emergence as a leading player in both the Android and Windows 8 tablet markets was driven home today when the chip supplier's CEO discussed second-quarter results in an earnings conference call.

Revenue rose to $1.04 billion from $1.01 billion in the company's second quarter of last year. Analysts had forecast revenue of $1 billion.

Net income was $119 million, or 19 cents a share, below the $151.6 million, or 25 cents a share, recorded in the same period last year. But that exceeded analyst estimates of 14 cents a share on sales of $… Read more

Hewlett-Packard lost ground to Acer, Asus, Apple, and others in key markets in Europe, according to market researcher Gartner.

The Western Europe PC market recorded weak overall PC shipments across all countries, according to Meike Escherich, principal analyst at Gartner.

But some are doing better than others. Acer is gaining on HP in Europe and increased its market share by 2.7 percentage points. Asus was the top performer among the top five vendors and moved up to the No. 3 slot, according to Gartner.

In the U.K., which is one of the worst markets, "the real worry...… Read more

In the new Office 2013 and SharePoint 2013 worlds, add-ins are passe. Apps are in.

This is the crux of what Microsoft officials mean when they talk about the new "cloud app model" that the Office team has adopted with its coming products.

This new model -- complete with new Office and SharePoint Stores for marketing/selling/deploying apps from Microsoft and third-party developers -- is "the most significant thing we've done with the (Office) platform in 15 years" since the introduction of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), said Brian Jones, group program manager on … Read more