More rumors about a sub 10-inch Windows tablet is on the way. Peter Klein, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, said yesterday, “We…are working closely with OEMs on a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows.”
Speaking at their third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, went on to state how the new devices were made possible by their “latest OEM offerings designed specifically for these smaller devices.” Aside from “competitive pricing and availability in the coming months,” Klein didn’t offer any new info: no specs, no team names, no display sizes or materials, no nothing. Most of the rumor buzz seems to be around a 7-inch Windows tablet, but this could be anything. How about those smartwatches we reported on a little while back?
Recently, the Wall Street Journal did report that Microsoft was working on a 7-inch Surface, so we could be wrong about them launching a whole new line of wearable devices. That said, even with these new tablets rumored to be here by about the end of the summer, there’s no telling what else Microsoft has up its sleeve in regards to hardware by the year’s end.
The time might be wrong for super-small screens, and a watchband device could be easily marketed as part of the Windows Phone / Laptop / Tablet family. The possibilities for a drastic decrease in licensing fees for Office and Windows were reported in March, so this might be Microsoft giving some smaller hardware manufacturers a shot, whether it’s a watch or just a cheaper, smaller tablet line.
Whatever Microsoft has in the works, it’s looking at a monumental year. With the next Xbox rumored to be out by the holidays, and the potential for two new mobile hardware lines, Microsoft is on-track for one of their biggest years they’ve ever had. The jury’s still out on that, but frankly, we’re more excited by the prospect of finally getting computer watches.
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