Can Tablets Succeed In Business?

For another insight into tablets and the mobile market from Microsoft's perspective, take a look at this video from the D8: All Things Digital conference in June 2010. Steve Ballmer and Ray Ozzie were interviewed by Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg. Ballmer made some dismissive comments about the Apple and Google strategies, and used his oft-repeated line that it's early and Microsoft has time to catch up in to the current leaders.

By the way, if you want to get some insight into why Ray Ozzie left Microsoft, watch the segment about three-quarters of the way into the video where Ozzie gives a refreshingly honest answer about why Google is developing Chrome OS: "On Android versus Chrome, if you look at the architecture of what's going on in iPad, iPhone, and Android from an app model perspective, Chrome OS is a bet on the future. When you install an app on [iPhone, Android, Windows, or Mac], you're targeting the device. Chrome is a bet on a cloud-centric future, where you go to a site and an app happens to cache itself on a device."

Unfortunately, that response came right after Steve Ballmer says he doesn't understand Google's dual-OS (Android and Chrome) strategy. It certainly gave the impression that Microsoft's CEO isn't quite sure how a major competitor's strategy works. The sad part is that Ray Ozzie, the guy who did clearly understand the strategy, is leaving the company.

Regardless of the operating system used on a tablet, what exactly makes them popular? It's interesting that there is no killer app category for the iPad, unlike the PC where Lotus 1-2-3 launched its popularity and Microsoft Office kept things going strong over the past two decades. Scanning that list, you'd have to say the majority of iPad users are using it for leisure and not for business. The two are far from mutually exclusive today, of course, but it's hard to find a compelling business reason to get a tablet based on what it can do today.

In short, we've yet to see the kind of apps that justify businesses investing in tablets. I suppose Microsoft is hoping that a tablet based on Windows, one that can run the business apps that people use today, will attract businesses. After seeing the way that tablets are used, I'm not so sure. Legacy Windows business apps aren't built for tablets and touch, so Microsoft's advantage in Windows business apps can't really be pushed into tablets the way it moved off of the desktop and onto notebooks. So, although nobody can argue with the fact that tablets have been a consumer success, I still have doubts about its future as a business tool.

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