Could Microsoft release its own Windows tablet? Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired 
Microsoft has scheduled a super-secret press event for this coming Monday, and if reports prove true, the world will be introduced to a Microsoft-built and -branded Windows 8 tablet.
Both The Wrap and All Things Digital are reporting they have inside information on event specifics, and that the software giant will be using Monday’s spectacle to unveil its first stab at a modern touchscreen tablet.
Microsoft is keeping mum on any details — the company won’t even reveal the specific venue location until the morning of the event, which is scheduled to begin at 3:30 PDT. The email invite only offered up these cryptic last words: “This will be a major Microsoft announcement — you will not want to miss it.”
What could be more major news than a Microsoft-branded tablet? According to ATD’s sources, Microsoft is designing both the hardware and software in order to create a tablet that directly (and formidably) competes with Apple’s iPad. It’s unclear whether the tablet will run on ARM-based processors (making it a Windows RT tablet), or Intel silicon.
The Wrap reported similar news, stating that Microsoft is manufacturing its own tablet.
While a Microsoft-branded tablet could make for a very exciting announcement, it would still be a curious move for Microsoft. The company already has several manufacturing partners that are making Windows-based tablets — Acer, Toshiba and Asus all showed off Windows 8 tablets at the Computex show in early June. So if Microsoft is actually making its own hardware, it would send a confusing message to partners — just consider Google’s concerns about the subtextual messaging attached to its purchase of Motorola Mobility. In essence, these large software companies don’t want to upset their hardware partner apple carts.
To avoid this, Microsoft could potentially reveal a tablet that is more of an Amazon Kindle Fire competitor than an iPad competitor — i.e., a simple entertainment and media consumption device. This move would make a bit more sense. A “Microsoft reader” could run on Windows Phone OS, Windows 8, or Windows RT, but it wouldn’t offer the same capabilities of a full-fledged Windows 8 tablet, and therefore not strain any relationships between Microsoft and its hardware partners.
We also know that Nokia has been working on a Windows 8 tablet. Considering the close partnership between the two companies, it’s conceivable that Microsoft might unveil a Nokia-built device with especially unique features that set it apart from other Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets.
This would certainly be good PR for Nokia, which needs some good news right now.
Whatever the case, Wired will be at the event on Monday to deliver you the news. Keep an eye out for a liveblog of the announcement. Have any thoughts or guesses as to Microsoft’s major announcement? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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