Microsoft has removed licensing charges for Windows tablets with screens below 9 inches in diagonal and the products include models from the likes of Lenovo, Acer and ASUS. Now these companies plan on launching slates based on Windows 8.1 with Bing in the third quarter of 2014, according to Taiwanese supply chain makers.
The devices will be displayed at Microsoft’s booth during Computex 2014. Sources say that demand for Android tablets has already beaten the one for iOS units and right now it accounts for over 60% of worldwide shipments. Vendors have turned to Microsoft in the meantime getting Windows 8.1 thanks to the special licensing cuts. Sources say that the Windows platform is expected to have difficulties in achieving a higher growth, because of the lack of apps.
It will be interesting to see what Microsoft’s Bing-related strategy has to offer, seeing how the Bing apps are usually associated to services we can live without, like Health, News, Cooking and Tourism. We can get all of that intel from Flipboard for example…
