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Office to propel Windows tablets past Android in 2015

Apple to stay on top of fondleslab fight says Taiwanese analyst

Taiwan-based analyst TrendForce says Windows-based tablets will overtake Android's market share by 2015, thanks to the presence of Microsoft Office on the devices.

The prediction can be found in a report titled 2010-2015 Market Shares of Tablet PC Operating Systems by analyst Eric Chiou from TrendForce. The prediction has been issued by WitsView, one of TrendForce's sub-brands that specialises in display technologies and their manufacturers. Chiou told The Reg the predictions are based in part on “tracking tablet PC shipments and panel shipments.”

Chiou says “Win8 tablet’s incorporation of business software such as Office will not only differentiate it from most other entertainment-oriented tablets, but also allow it to successfully gain a portion of Apple and Android devices’ market shares.”

Windows 8 tablets will not, however, make much of a dent in Apple's market share, taking it down from today's 62 per cent to 59 per cent in 2015. Android, however, takes a tumble from 32 per cent to 21 per cent. The reason, Chiou says, is that Android's various backers cannot match Apple's slick hardware or content offerings.

Wits View's predictions for tablet OS market share

“Even if Google does begin to devote more resources to its ecosystem and develop major hardware and software improvements,” he writes, “the patent war with Apple is likely to create a few long term challenges for the Android system.”

Microsoft, he feels, both gets the need for a good content ecosystem and has the muscle to summon it into existence, but still faces a “tough battle” to succeed, not least because the existence of Windows 8's X86 and ARM editions means hardware-makers face a tough choice deciding just which version to back. ®

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