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Windows tablets go big in Japan?

by Mark Tyson on 16 April 2014, 16:27

Tags: Windows 8, PC

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New figures for Windows tablet sales in Japan show that customers there are much keener on Windows slabs than the rest of the world. Japan-based market research agency BCN observed that, in February, 15.7 per cent of tablets sold came with Windows 8.X installed. This compares very favourably with the worldwide tablet market percentage of a mere 2 per cent, reports DigiTimes.

What is happening to propel this significantly greater share of Windows tablets off retailer shelves? DigiTimes believes it is a combination of the popularity of Microsoft's own Surface tablets over there and a surge of 8-inch Windows 8.1 tablets enjoying popularity. It says that "vendors have been aggressively releasing Windows 8.1-based 8-inch models since October 2013," and that has started to make an impact on the Japanese market. Also Microsoft's second generation Surfaces have in some configurations had stock run dry in Japan.

It seems like the Japanese market is particularly fond of these full Windows 8.X machines in handy portable slate form. If you look at the Japanese market for electronics, such as smart and feature phones, they really do like gadgets to be packed full of features so the dual Modern/Desktop UI in Windows 8 tabs and all the functionality that provides appears to be tellingly popular.

This news coincides with Intel's latest set of financial results, which we wrote about on HEXUS earlier today. We heard that Intel was expecting much of its tablet chip sales in the coming year to come from Android tablets, even though it is pitted against Qualcomm, MediaTek and others in that area. CNet says that Intel doesn't have much hope for Windows tablets but perhaps with the recent Microsoft OS price cuts (or even free for some devices) it might see a change like that observed in Japan by BCN analysts, in other world regions.



HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

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It's only because they hate saying Andloid.
I want one too, but the well priced ones (e.g. HP's Omni 10) are all compromises and the good ones are far too pricey (for me).
I'd be curious to see how many of these windows tablets use a stylus, I'd bet the main reason for the high percentage is stylus support. iOS and android just don't support hand written text like windows does and Japanese kanji, hiragana or katakana aren't really that easy to do on either iOS or android.
windows is still too pricey
spark9990
windows is still too pricey

An Acer Iconia W4 tablet (32GB) can be had for £220 on Amazon which compares (price wise) favourably with the still on sale iPad Mini (16GB) at £249. Recently the 64GB W4 was available to order on Amazon for the same price as the old iPad Mini.
With Microsoft rumoured to soon be waiving the license fee for smaller tablets the price is likely to drop as well.