HP's new CEO, Mrs. Whitman, said the next tablet product from HP will use Windows 8.
Two features caught my attention when I took a look at those Windows 8 introduction videos for the Metro Interface, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihcIlg37QKU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHrcz7zcm_8. One is the touch area outside the visible part of screen and the other is the support of the original windows interface. A touch area outside the screen requires the same high density touch sensory to be integrated beyond the viewing portion of display. The desktop Windows user interface requires more memory. Both add to the BOM cost.
Based on the iPad 2 3G tear down, the BOM cost is around $326. This number came with the fact of Apple's own A5 processor and the low memory usage enjoyed by iOS. A WiFi-only iPad 2 would cost even less. Enough hand-held Windows devices had suffered under-provisioned hardware and failed so far. HP's decision of adapting Windows 8 will put itself between the choice of higher cost per unit or unsatisfactory user experience. Mrs. Whitman has one shot on this one. A decision of using Windows 8 may seem to be a no-brainer. It may turn out to be an ill-thought decision because it seemed to be such a no-brainer.
