Apple"s iPad currently rules the tablet market, but Google"s Android operating system has also been installed in a number of rival devices like the Motorola Xoom, Samsung"s Galaxy Tab and the upcoming Kindle Fire. By contrast, Microsoft"s Windows operating system hasn"t made much of an impact in the tablet space yet. But according to a new survey, a lot of US consumers would be willing to buy a tablet product with Windows running things inside.
AllThingsD.com reports that according to the survey, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, 42 percent of U.S. consumers would be interested in buying a tablet that has Windows inside. By contrast just 27 percent want to buy a tablet with Apple"s iOS operating system, even though Apple has sold millions of units of its iOS-based iPad tablet. Only 20 percent of consumers surveyed would like to buy a tablet that has Google"s Android operating system. Nine percent of those surveyed want a tablet with a Blackberry operating system which has to be bad news for Research in Motion and its Playbook tablet. A mere three percent of those surveyed want a tablet with the PalmOS operating system.
On the one hand this is bad news for Microsoft since it shows that there is likely a big market for tablets with Windows inside but there are almost no such tablets on the market. On the other hand this is good news for Microsoft in that its upcoming Windows 8 operating system is being made to work well with tablets as well as desktop and notebook PCs.