關鍵字：Windows 8 surface平板
你選擇在你的OEM客戶推出產品前的幾個月，就搶先發表你的 Windows 8 平板電腦。但，這可不是什么有勇有謀的舉動。
多年來，PC廠商都亦步亦趨地跟隨著你的系統需求，站在你那一邊支持你，長久以來他們一直在付出。而當你認為你已經能開發出實體產品時，你就趕在他們前面，希望能分到5%的毛利率！
我猜，很少有人會公開說些什么，因為他們都怕傷到和你之間的合作關系，所以我會說，他們只是有口難言罷了。
你可能已經從 Google 的經驗中得到教訓。和一家或兩家 OEM 業者密切合作開發殺手級產品，藉此展現你旗下軟件的創新特性。也或許，并沒有任何創新的功能可以炫耀。
一位消息人士對我說，他聽到Acer工程師將之形容為背叛。“微軟希望為每套Windows RT設備收取80到90美元版稅，但卻同時推出標示著其商標的平板電腦機──這是不公平的競爭，而且可能會加速更多裝置采用Android，”他說。
他同時表示，ODM公司覺得他們浪費在Windows 8平板上的投資，而現在，他們不得不再度轉移焦點。
如果我是移動PC制造商，我現在就會打電話給Google的 Android 團隊，去建立密切的合作關系。
臺灣的PC廠商已經不止一次告訴我，他們認為Android要比Windows 8更適合平板計算機。因為它是免費的，而且它已經擁有了完善的使用者基礎，以及應用軟件生態系統。
微軟 Surface 平板看起來并不令人驚艷。它看起來很像是一種“me-too”系統。我看不出任何能超越蘋果 (Apple) iPad 之處。至少三星(Samsung)還能用類似iPad的 Galaxy 平板快速切入市場。
當我從紐約時報讀到在洛杉磯記者會上，微軟甚至并未回答任何有關與 OEM 沖突的問題時，我非常驚訝。
“當被問及 Surface 平板是否會損害與OEM之間的關系時，微軟Windows部門總裁Steven Sinofsky輕推記者，讓他轉向 Surface 平板，并說：‘去學些東西’。”
也許有一天，微軟將會從平板業務獲得龐大利潤。但他們要付出什么樣的代價？
Et tu, Ballmer, or M’soft’s stab at tablets
Rick Merritt
Shame on you, Steve Ballmer!
Pre-announcing your own Windows 8 tablet a few months before your OEM customers are ready to roll out their own products. That’s not gutsy, it’s just gross.
For years, PC makers have slavishly followed your systems requirements, jumped on your bandwagons (like Windows for Pen Computing), and this is their payment. When you think you have a solid product you rush to get in front of them hoping you can steal their sub-five-percent profit margins.
I suspect few will say anything publicly for fear of hurting their relationships with you, so I will say what they cannot. This is bad business.
You could have taken a lesson from Google. Work closely with one or two OEMs on a killer product that would show off the novel features of your software. Perhaps there really aren’t any novel features to show off.
One source told me he heard Acer engineers describe this as a betrayal. “Microsoft wants to charge $80 to $90 royalty per Windows RT device while bring out this tablet under its own logo—it’s unfair competition which will accelerate more adaption of Android,” he said.
(In my own interviews, I was told the per unit cost of a Windows license for OEMs is about $45.)
He reports an ODM company saying they feel they have “wasted all the investment [on a] promised [Win 8 tablet] business [and] will have to shift focus again.”
If I was a mobile PC maker, I would be on the phone to Google’s Android team seeking a tight partnership.
Taiwan’s PC makers have told me more than once they see Android as a better road to tablets than Windows 8. It’s free and it already has a well-established user base and ecosystem of apps.
The scant information on the Microsoft Surface tablet is unimpressive. It looks very much like a me-too system. I fail to see any compelling differences over the Apple iPad. At least Samsung was quick to market with its iPad-like Galaxy tablet.
Nvida was quick to note its Tegra powers the Surface. Frankly, this is one design win I would try to distance myself from.
I was amazed to read at their hastily called LA press conference, Microsoft did not even answer questions about OEM conflicts. According to the New York Times report:
"When asked whether Surface would damage those ties, Steven Sinofsky, the president of Microsoft’s Windows division, gently pushed a reporter in the direction of a stand of Surface tablets and said, 'Go learn something.'"
Maybe someday Microsoft will reap great profits from a tablet business. But at what cost?
The innovation in the Surface is mainly in its chutzpah.
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