Analyst expectations for Microsoft Surface and other Windows 8 tablets -- big-time sales

If IDC is right, Windows 8 tablets will hit the market with a bang when they ship starting in October. IDC says that Microsoft will build more than 3 million Surface tablets in 2012. Add in results from other Windows 8 tablet manufacturers, and it could add up to big Windows 8 tablet sales.

IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell told CNet that Microsoft planned to manufacture 3 million Surface tablets this year. That takes into account both RT-based tablets for ARM processors as well as the more powerful Windows 8 tablets that will run on Intel chips.

O'Donnell says that it will be tough for Microsoft to sell that many tablets by itself, so expects there to be other sales outlets beside Microsoft stores.

That 3 million figure is just for Microsoft's Surface tablet. Expect there to be millions of non-Microsoft Windows 8 tablets sold as well.

Those sales, though, will still be dwarfed by iPad sales. In the second quarter of this year, IDC says, Apple shipped more than 17 million iPads. And even though Android tablets have lagged the iPad, their sales will pick up as well. There will likely be 8 million Google Nexus 7 tablets sold for all of 2012, with third quarter sales likely to be 2.9 million says Tech-thoughts.net. New Kindles will likely sell briskly also.

Still, given that right now Microsoft has essentially no cut of the tablet market, IDC's sales estimates bode well for the future of Windows 8 tablets. In some ways, Windows 8 is a better operating system than iOS for tablets. Given that Windows 8 tablets will likely be pre-eminent in enterprises, Microsoft may well ultimately grab a significant share of the tablet market.

Preston Gralla is a contributing editor for Computerworld and author of more than 40 books, including "Windows 8 Hacks" and "How the Internet Works". You can follow him on Twitter or Google+.