tablet

According to data released by research firm Strategy Analytics, Microsoft has managed to obtain 7.5 percent of the tablet market with Windows 8 and Windows RT. Tablet shipping in general reached an all-time high of 40.6 million units in Q1 2013, a huge climb from 18.7 million reported in Q1 2012. Apple still dominates the market with 48 percent, but Android is close behind with 43 percent of the pie. So what's hindering Microsoft's advance?

HTC has always been a big partner of Microsoft. They’ve been onboard with Windows Phone since the beginning in 2010, but the history goes back deeper than that. They started out making devices for other companies (running Windows Mobile) and took off when they started to produce devices under their own name. With the upcoming ‘Blue’ update across a variety of Microsoft platforms it’s becoming harder and harder for OEMs to build a Windows Phone and not have a corresponding tablet running Windows 8 to complement it.

NPD DisplaySearch, a market research and consulting firm, believes that HTC is working on a tablet running Windows 8.

ZTE is not a name we are too familiar with and we generally associate them with more low to mid quality phones. As it turns out, they have plans for Windows 8 and tablets in the form of the V98, a 10.1-inch tablet running Windows 8 (x86) on a 1.8GHz Intel Atom CPU and 2GB of RAM.

And it's kind of awesome.

Alan Mendelevich from AdDuplex, the cross-platform advertising network for developers, has been analysing data collected through the company's advertising API and has noticed some anomalies that could well be yet-to-be-announced Nokia hardware. So what could we be seeing at this coming Mobile World Congress?

Nokia is set to focus on Lumia smartphones at the soon approaching Mobile World Congress 2013. We're likely to see more advances in the same product line, or not depending on whether we see a new family of devices announced. But what about tablets? Nokia was rumoured to be heading into the tablet market, right? Correct. But slow down, ol' chap.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, corporate vice president of mobile communication products at Asus, Benson Lin has revealed that the company is indeed considering Windows Phone. Unfortunately the employee also noted that such hardware has no timeline on when they'll be released to consumers. For Asus to be building Windows Phones would further add to the foundations of the platform.

To celebrate Cyber Monday, Microsoft has the Acer Iconia W500 Windows 8 tablet listed online for just $399 - that's $100 off the regular price. What's different about this Windows tablet compared to the Surface RT? It's slightly cheaper and sports a full version of Windows 8 with its x86 processor. This means one can install legacy applications in the desktop app.

Ever since Microsoft first announced to the world their intentions to “re-imagine” Windows it has been a rather wild ride. Their new touch screen user interface, WinRT wasn't just radical for its looks, it ushered in a totally new apps eco system while simultaneously sending the Start Menu to the technology grave yard.

The changes to the OS ran deep and Microsoft had been busy readying Windows 8/RT to run on the highly power efficient ARM processors. Their plans for that became clearer when they shocked the technology world by announcing their own tablet computer, the Surface. With the changes to Windows came a new declaration that Microsoft re-position themselves as a Devices and Services company. They have built their eco system and the next logical step has been to control the hardware that uses it. The culmination of their efforts in re-imagining Windows and becoming a devices and services company can we seen best in one single product, their Surface tablet running Windows RT.

To show its support for developers and the ecosystem's future, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced at the company's BUILD event today that all attending developers will receive a gift - 100GB storage on SkyDrive, as well a brand new Surface RT tablet with Touch Cover.

Stay tuned for more coverage from the BUILD event.