Why Windows 8 sets the scene for Apple's iPad HD

By Jonny Evans

After its DOJ-enforced years in the creative doldrums, Microsoft [MSFT] has introduced Windows 8 to what seem to be rave reviews -- and has done Apple [AAPL] a huge favor with the move, laying the philosophical ground from which Cupertino's design teams could successfully introduce the iPad HD -- the iPad that's a Mac, just as Windows tablets will be a PC. Only Apple will do it better.

Did they miss anything?

I'm not about to get into too much Windows-bashing -- I welcome that the software giant is finally doing something interesting after years of seeming irrelevance, but reading the media it would be easy to forget the company has seen a steady erosion across many of its markets and, in the smartphone space at least, it's a minnow in an incredibly competitive market, dominated (financially at least) by Apple, currently the world's most profitable technology company.

Windows 8's rave reviews?

My favorite is Zach Epstein's at BGR:

"Apple paved the way but Microsoft will get there first with Windows 8. A tablet that can be as fluid and user friendly as the iPad but as capable as a Windows laptop. A tablet that can boot in under 10 seconds and fire up a full-scale version of Adobe Dreamweaver a few moments later. A tablet that can be slipped into a dock to instantly become a fully capable touch-enabled laptop computer. This is Microsoft's vision with Windows 8, and this is what it will deliver."

Of course, all of this is jam tomorrow, as Jim Dalrymple at the Loop warns:

"When Windows 8 is released and millions of people choose that over the iPad, then you can safely say that Microsoft ushered in something -- until then, they have nothing."

Jam today or jam tomorrow?

For all the focus on just how handy the new Windows will be, it really isn't so useful without the apps to back it up. And Office is critical to the Windows ecosystem, so in a sense I have to agree with Jeremy Toeman, who thinks it's imperative that Microsoft develop a version of Office that uses the new Metro interface.

This is probably in the plan...

After all, when it comes to tablets, Microsoft has already confirmed itself to be "looking at the possibility of releasing Office for Mac for the Apple iPad".

[This story is from Computerworld's Apple Holic blog. Follow on Twitter or subscribe via RSS to make sure you don't miss a beat.]

Given the company now wants to devour what's left of the Android tablet market while putting the Redmond boot into Apple's iEmpire, I'm not holding my breath for Office for the iPad, at least, not for some time to come.

[ABOVE: Windows 8 apps. Ugly. IMHO.]

Apple already has a plan

That's why Apple already has a plan. See, it seems to me the company's not holding its breath for any detente in this new platform war, offering up iWork for the iPad to transform its tablet into a far more creative and productive proposition.

This productive proposition will become even stronger on the inevitable future debut of iCloud-hosted apps for iPad users...

Appel's plan could also be the iPad 3, or the iPad HD. The former is the next-gen of the existing device, while the latter is heavily reputed to be a far better-performing device capable of running full-weight apps -- Final Cut X, for example?

Word from the usual suspect sources has claimed Apple has already begun booking in the components it needs to put a new model iPad into production next year. This makes sense of course as that product seems destined for an annual transition.

Apple makes the rules

The point is that -- from scratch -- Apple has already created an incredibly vibrant tablet market. A market no competitor has had anything like success in; a market no one else has yet managed to emulate; a market that's leaving piles of unloved iPad competitors in huge big piles in landfill, or at the very best gathering dust in distribution centers worldwide.

This isn't Appleholic propaganda, it's Appleholic fact: Apple owns the tablet market. It makes the rules. It sets the boundaries, and to assume Apple's tomorrow is the same as its today is foolish...

-- Where the first iPad was slammed for not being a truly productive machine; Apple responded with iWork and the iPad 2.

-- Where the iPad 2 is condemned for not offering a "full" PC experience, Apple is already putting together the pieces to deliver just that experience.

-- Where Apple is today, competitors will follow...and, one more thing:

Will Apple beat Microsoft to the post-post PC punch?

Will the iPad 3 (with that Retina Display that seems to be a dose of Viagra to its fanboi following) be that productive machine? Will Apple beat Microsoft to the post-post PC punch?

The pro-MSFT hype in the next few months will go into overdrive as the public wait to see just how confusing the price points for Windows 8 turn out to be. Part of that hype will talk about this post-post-PC promise propagated by the pundits.

A promise of tablet and mobile devices that offer pretty much all the power of a full Windows PC.

And then Apple will dash past this vaporware of soon-to-be-sundered promises and deliver just what could potentially be the big deal, an iPad that's pretty much a Mac. This will happen, because, where Android and Windows only offer a whisper and a promise, Apple already has the elements in place to deliver this.

Apple has the hardware, the software, the media ecosystem and the OS advantages which have informed the design decisions of its competitors.

Competitors, by focusing on what Apple isn't offering yet as they attempt to differentiate themselves to the markets they are chasing are helping Apple prepare the market for the next stage in the rapid evolution of the post-PC age: when the tablet becomes more powerful and more flexible than the PC that spawned it. (Yes, there will always be PCs, as servers, office machines, booths, and other heavy duty haulage tasks, like trucks, someone once said...)

I'm perplexed that Apple's competitors always assume they only need to compete with where the iDevice maker is today: because when Windows 8 does ship, Apple will already be talking about its next evolution, iOS 6 and the next-generation of Mac. And the evolution of both...

I'm excited to see what happens next.

This game ain't over yet.

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