An Integrated Hardware/Software Approach
Over the last few weeks both Google (see Nexus Tablet and Nexus Q) and Microsoft (see Surface) have announced major hardware initiatives. In both cases, these hardware initiatives have been primarily focused on the mobile/tablet ecosystem. Even Microsoft’s recent software announcement – Microsoft SmartGlass – is targeting the growing tablet ecosystem. Both companies are taking a more hands-on approach to the growing tablet ecosystem as they seek to more closely integrate their software strategy with a hardware component. These moves are partly in the hopes that a hardware component will spur software demand and help buoy their entire platforms respectively.…