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Microsoft: Surface Tablet May Alienate OEM Partners

Posted by Soulskill on from the damn-the-torpedoes dept.

HangingChad sends this excerpt from PCMag: "Microsoft this week admitted that its upcoming Surface tablet might hurt its relationships with PC maker partners. As first noted by the New York Times, Redmond said in a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that 'our Surface devices will compete with products made by our OEM partners, which may affect their commitment to our platform.'" The filing also made note of the difficulties in building up another app marketplace: "In order to compete, we must successfully enlist developers to write applications for our marketplace and ensure that these applications have high quality, customer appeal and value. Efforts to compete with these application marketplaces may increase our cost of revenue and lower our operating margins."

3 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. They're Concluding Microsoft Wants to Be Apple by RudyHartmann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not only the Surface, but the Xbox can be a full blown PC with an interface just like Win8. What about the Microsoft Store? Sounds like the Apple store doesn't it? Just wait till Microsoft comes out with their own phone. This is another reason OEM's and deveopers are giving Linux another serious look. There is no viable alternative for them.

    --
    Oh, yeah! Wise guy, huh? Woob woob woob woob! Nyuk! Nyuk!
    1. Re:They're Concluding Microsoft Wants to Be Apple by sexconker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Linux has already won. It has won the server and the mobile market.

      I agree with you in a way. But a full blown win will be when you can ask any guy on the street what Linux is and get an answer..

      You can't ask any guy on the street what electricity is and get an answer.

  2. OEMs key to Microsoft success story by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Failed? OEMs were the key to Microsoft's success! Much more than developers, developers, developers. That's why Microsoft was a bigger company than Apple for most of its history. For OEMs Microsoft was a benevolent dictator. Now Microsoft is a desperate despot willing to sacrifice its allies just to maintain its position as an influential tech company.