Forecast: Microsoft third in tablets through at least 2016

The launch of Windows 8 later this coming year can give Microsoft an enhancement on television tablet market, making Windows-based machines a viable competitor against Android tablets and the iPad, but the company is still likely to be the No. 3 player through at least 2016, in accordance with new projections through the Gartner research firm today.

Gartner says Windows-based tablets should be the cause of 4.1 % of media tablet sales in 2010, in comparison with 61.Four percent to the iPad and 31.9 percent for Android tablets. Windows is projected to reach 11.8 percent by the end of 2016, still within the third slot behind Android and iPhone.

Microsoft was an early on leader in tablet computing, with Windows-based tablets out there a decade ago, nonetheless they didn’t catch on using the commercially available in part because Microsoft was focusing on business sales. The iPad has caught on by attracting consumers first, forcing IT departments to adjust to the changing tastes of employees.

“This poses a major threat to vendors that seriously considered emphasizing the enterprise market which will have to become attracting consumers at the same time,”says analyst Carolina Milanesi, Gartner research v . p ., inside a news release.
She continues, “This is exactly the same trend that vendors like RIM needed to face inside smartphone market. The difference this is that tablets are actually suitable for consumers first and then trusted an ecosystem of apps and services that make them more manageable inside the enterprise. In the event the deployment should come through the IT department the world thinks that os’s for example Windows 8 will have a benefit as long as they usually are not seen as a compromise in usability for your users.”

Microsoft’s Windows 8 features a new tile-based interface designed to work across tablets and traditional computers. It’s slated for release later this year. Gartner has become more bullish during the past about Windows Phone, the Redmond company’s mobile os, projecting a year ago that it could surpass the iPhone in business by 2015.