Microsoft could be coming out with its own branded tablet with the Windows 8 operating system in 2012, according to a DigiTimes report citing unnamed supply chain sources. The software giant would partner with Texas Instruments, possibly for the central processor, and Taiwan-based components makers, the tech journal reported Wednesday.
The report did not mention any role for Nokia, which is heavily invested in Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform.
Microsoft hasn't had much luck in the tablet or smartphone markets with its Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 platforms as rivals Apple, maker of the iOS mobile operating system for its iPad and iPhone products, and Google, developer of the Android OS, continue to grow strongly in those spaces.
Apple last year passed Microsoft as the largest tech company in the world in terms of market value. IBM last month also leapfrogged Microsoft.
But Microsoft does have its own popular consumer hardware products, notably the Xbox 360, and supply chain alliances to build on for a stab at its own tablet PC. And Windows 8, demoed live for the first time at the recent D9 conference, incorporates a lot of new tablet-like features that borrow from Windows Phone 7.
Even if it does develop its own tablet, Microsoft will continue to work with other computer makers on their own devices based on the upcoming Windows 8 OS, according to DigiTimes' sources.
Microsoft, though, has recently ruffled some OEM partners' feathers with reports that it is dictating which computer makers can work with which chip makers on Windows 8 tablets. If the company also enters the fray with its own tablet, there could be a lot of grumbling going on in the Microsoft ecosystem.
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