dnnyca asked: The hardware will be important but lately I have become increasingly impressed with Samsung's stable, which the 5,000 tablet's that Microsoft gave away for dev use were manufactured by. Also the Acer tablet he had looked great as well, so the hardware dept seems taken care of (just so long as they don't go with Dell..). At this point the only thing I worry about is marketing, I remember a while ago you posted about "windows 8 charging an iPad and saying who's your daddy" they should run that ad.

Marketing. That’s one nut Microsoft just can’t seem to figure out how to crack. After the first few promising WP7 ads (‘Really?’ and ‘Season of the Witch’) I was beginning to think they might finally turn that ship around - but they failed to follow up on it. Their lack of marketing chops has always been disappointing but it’s especially frustrating when they they fail to push something as compelling as Windows Phone.

Not only they don’t get how to market their products to end users (which says something about their creative department and choice of ad agencies) what’s more - they completely failed to recognize that it’s really the wireless carriers who need to play hardball with first. They control what kind of products gets pushed to millions customers. And these bastards want nothing to do with another mobile OS that they can’t fully control and rig to screw their customers with (which explains why they love Andriod to much: it’s their bitch.) And since MS has none of Apple’s mojo and Windows Phone offers none of Android ‘customization’ (read: bastardization) capability - the Wireless carriers in the U.S being the greedy, anti-consumer centric organizations that they’re - are reluctant to push Windows Phone based devices to their customers. And that’s where the real problem lies for Microsoft. Until MS address that - whether by strong arming the carries (the way Apple did to AT&T before releasing the iPhone back in ‘07) or sweetening the deal in some way or simply raising the awareness and demand for their product among consumers to a level that the stores can no longer ignore - sales of WP will continue to suffer. It’s a shame but that’s the reality.

However, I’m less concern about MS’s ability to push Windows 8 - that beast will take care of itself if nothing else for two simple reasons: 1. It’s Windows, with install base in the billions. 2. Hardware vendors are desperately seeking an attractive alternative to iPad, where Android has failed to come through the way it did in the mobile space. But the clock is ticking. They need to get this baby out into production as soon as possible, before another round of Android devices get their shots (Amazon Kindle Fire so far is the only one that’ll be successful, but that could others down the line.)

Bonus: imagine a W8 device next to the iPad on the store shelves at a local Best Buy or Fry’s. They both have similar hardware profile, thinness and size - one of them is pulsing with brightly colored active tiles that are constantly updating and the other is a stale row of static icons looking all too old and familiar. Which one will seem more inviting to a first timer?