Recent news suggests that Microsoft is preparing to announce a new Windows version for ARM chip-based devices at CES2011. This will be the latest serious foray for Microsoft into the mobile and tablet market.  And while the news will attract attention, there has to be serious doubt as to whether this can contend with Android and Apple in this space.

It was close to a year ago that Microsoft announced their Windows-based slate products and those have gone nowhere.  Think of that HP slate thing.  The plug was pulled on that one and HP is now doing it on their own WebOS.  Questions linger whether Microsoft understands their audience in this space after the delivery and experience on that device and others.  How far can they dice up and repackage Windows 7, still call it Windows 7 and put it on mobile devices?

Think about the phones.  I for one was looking for the Windows 7 phone strategy to be more enterprise approach that has been announced.   The feeling I get is it was rushed to market and failing in enterprise-friendly features like no copy/paste, encryption, applications isolation from phone components, and no internet sockets which means no way for apps to access this functionality.  They have disappointed what is their clear market and that is the enterprise in exchange for a run and appeal of the flashy consumer market.  Which brings about a question for this forthcoming Windows-for-ARM version – who will these devices be for?  Do they really want to take on the giants in the consumer-oriented world of tablet and mobile device space?

Microsoft’s big achievement for the year in the consumer market has been the Kinect.  Could that be on the roadmap for tablet devices?  It certainly has been hacked for a bunch of other really neat and interesting uses.  What could Microsoft offer on these tablets that would make it better than anything else out there?  A gateway to the cloud perhaps (not terribly original) – I do not know.  But without a game-changer Microsoft won’t make any serious inroads into the consumer space.  An alternative is just not enough.  A cheaper alternative will just seem cheap.  Apple has the slick marketing, product polish, and base.  Android is the surging alternative that offers immense flexibility.   It seems like everyone is jumping into this slate category and there will be a fight for the market for sure.  If Microsoft goes after the consumer they will need to bring something new.  If they go after the enterprise, give us the stuff that we want – make it bulletproof, make app deployment centrally manageable, we want encryption, full management, and more things like that and they can win this space.  Mr. Ballmer – you are not Steve Jobs and you don’t need to be.