Fujitsu bigwig: Microsoft's doing us a favour with Surface either way

'I'm not panicking at all', says slablet CTO

Last week's launch of Microsoft’s Surface product is a good thing for tablet veteran Fujitsu, even if it only shows the battle is actually between Android and iOS.

The Japanese vendor, in its various European incarnations as International Computers Limited and Fujitsu-Siemens, has often been a lonely voice pushing tablet-like form factors. It currently aims its own Windows 7 and Android tablets at business customers, and is considering whether to launch its Android smartphone in the European market.

So Dr Joseph Reger, CTO at Fujitsu Technology Solutions, might be expected to be rather put out that now the technology building blocks for a mass commercial tablet appear to be in place, Microsoft is barging in with its own hardware platforms based around the upcoming Windows 8.

“I’m not panicking at all,” he told The Register in London last week. “Two things can happen. It’s successful, and grabs market share and the market is growing.”

Alternatively, “If it’s not successful, that brings clarity. Then we know the tablet space is a fight between Android and iOS.”

And, he continued, “If both are successful, then we can have a debate about what’s more important.”

For Fujitsu, what’s important – apart from shifting its own branded kit – is being able to sensibly plug mobile devices into the corporation. The vendor was a big fan of BYOD, Reger said, particularly when the D element was Fujitsu's own devices.

However, that endorsement was conditional on employees' devices being “manageable” by the corporation – and enterprise management platforms, tools and services are, unsurprisingly, a major preoccupation of the firm.

“Without that, BYOD is one of the most dangerous things ever,” Reger declared.

He said that while the extremist positions were for companies to supply just one device, or to accept “any device”, the sensible position was for companies to support a reasonable degree of choice among users. ®