PC firms look towindows 8

FORTUNES OF MICROSOFT AS A SOFTWARE DEVELOPER AND INTEL AS CHIP MAKER HINGE ON LAUNCH EXPECTED THIS YEAR

watched the energy and innovation shift to mobile devices — led by Apple’s iPhone and iPad.

While PC shipments fell 1.4 per cent last year, and are expected to grow by only 4.4 per cent this year, according to research firmGartner, tablet shipments have grown from 19.4 million units in 2010 to 68.4 million last year, with that figure expected to rise by 85 per cent this year, according to rival IHS.

M icrosoft, therefore, has little choice but to overhaul Windows to straddle both its traditional computer market and the world of tablets. The result is a potentially jarring shift for users long comfortable with the familiar Windows interface.

Intel, for its part, is having to rethink its chip business, which has focused on processing data rather than more mobile-centric issues such as power consumption. In the meantime, however, it is pushing its vision of a slimmed down laptop called the Ultrabook.

All of this, however, depends on the computer manufacturers and suppliers themselves. It’s they who have to build the devices and figure out how to turn a profit. This creates its own internal tensions because Microsoft wants each Windows machine to leverage all its features as much as possible, while the original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, as Taiwan’s gearmakers are known in the industry, have traditionally cut corners to keep prices low.