Microsoft will do fine with tablets. Remember, it is an emerging market.....you do not need to be first to dominate in the long run.
Microsoft is planning its next version of Windows to be optimized for touch. It is also planning on supporting the Tegra chips (Tegra 3 is rumored to be wicked!) which are optimized for tablets.
Once Microsoft can offer a tablet that appeals to enterprise users and runs Office applications smoothly, it will do just fine.
Remember, tablets have been around for a long time, Apple did not invent the segment, they just applied their iPhone OS to a large screen as the starting point. A great idea in the short run, but like any new product, nobody really knows where it will go in the long run.
Way late. They won't be first or second to the market, something more like fourth.
It is also planning on supporting the Tegra chips
So is the competition, or supporting equivalents to the Tegra chips. Nobody really knows what Apple has planned, and they bought the company that designed the A4 and the current high-end Samsung SoC. I doubt that $120 million investment has been twiddling its thumbs for a year.
Once Microsoft can offer a tablet that appeals to enterprise users
RIM will have that covered pretty well before Microsoft even enters the picture. RIM is already extremely well established in the enterprise, even where the enterprise is otherwise Microsoft-based.
Apple did not invent the segment, they just applied their iPhone OS to a large screen as the starting point.
Tablets absolutely languished before the iPad. They were at best niche, not general market. Apple introduced the tablet that people actually want, and the competition is following Apple's lead. Remember, Apple is rarely the first to do something, but often the first to do something right.
A great idea in the short run, but like any new product, nobody really knows where it will go in the long run.
Given past performance, I'd say Apple does. Given past performance, I'd say Microsoft doesn't. Remember, Microsoft and HP ditched their new Windows 7 tablet as soon as the iPod was unveiled. Ballmer was the one who said there was no chance the iPhone would get significant marketshare.