By Zanub Saeed
Acer electronics founder Stan Shih argued recently that with the upcoming release of Microsoft's Surface tablet, it is just a strategy of the company to initially bring out the Windows 8-run tablets, and then eventually leave from the tablet market once that has been accomplished.
Acer noted that he believed Microsoft had no real intention of selling their own tablet hardware, and wanted to focus, as it has in the past, on their software products, like their Windows operating systems, according to a statement he gave to Digitimes publication, based in Taiwan.
"Microsoft hopes that marketing its own-brand tablet PCs will encourage vendors to offer Windows 8 tablet PCs and thereby help expand market demand for the product line," Shih told Digitimes. "Once the purpose is realized, Microsoft will not offer more models. Vendors adopting Windows 8 should interpret Microsoft's intentions positively, as they will benefit from Microsoft's marketing."
Shih's words suggest that Microsoft's release of the Surface tablet is temporary, and that the company themselves is releasing them initially as a ploy to get other electronics retailers, like Dell, to develop similar products that will eventually be sold in the marketplace.
Dell recently commented on the subject, which suggested that the plans for other companies to create Windows 8-bound tablets were pretty much confirmed.
"Microsoft is an important partner to Dell and we look forward to delivering a full slate of Windows 8 tablets -- and other products -- later this fall," Dell told CNet.
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer stated, at the unveiling of the Surface tablet on Monday that their hardware technology was one they wanted to further work on, as well as their popular software.
"It was always clear that what our software could do would require us to push hardware, sometimes where our partners hadn't envisioned," Ballmer said.
