Mango Tablets, yum yum

I started off writing a post about how I wanted Windows Phone 7 on a tablet, then today I saw this.

Microsoft: Where's your $199 Windows Tablet?


I spent many months last year on the Windows Phone 7 Backstage Forum. It was created by MS shortly after they announced WP7 back in February 2010 and became largely irrelevant after the release in November.

One of the things we discussed was the possibility of putting Windows Phone 7 on tablets. This led, especially after the introduction of the iPad, to a differentiation between a tablet, which ran a smartphone style OS, and a slate, which ran a desktop level OS.

From the moment I saw the first videos of WP7, I became excited about the idea of Windows Tablet 7 (my own name). Metro on a tablet seemed like such an obvious idea that I was actually surprised when MS announced that there would no such thing.

I agree that MS is missing a trick right now. Many of the cheaper 7" tablets are 800x480, which means that Mango could run on them without alteration. Simply remove the phone icon from the start screen and you are all set to go.

I am excited about Windows 8 on tablets, but what I really want on a tablet is the simplicity of the way that Mango handles Office and email. I neither want nor need a full Office suite on a tablet. I love the fact that my contacts come in immediately from Windows Live when I start up my phone and I really don't want to have to park a full version of Office on my tablet to get the same email and office experience that I get on my phone.

By restricting the Mango tablet to 800x480 for now, and expanding it later when they expand the resolution for smartphones, I think they would have some tremendous traction against the iPad in the consumer market.  Later, Windows 8 comes out and blows all the large tablets right out of the water in the business sector.

Microsoft has managed to be a very usable app ecosystem for WP7 in a very short time. I know they can do it again, but by the middle of next year, the iPad, Kindle Fire, and Nook Tablet, not to mention all the other Android Tablets, are going to have a huge lead, and fighting an uphill battle in two different mobile markets may be very tough.

I think Microsoft could gain significant $$ rewards in the short term, and when Windows 8 comes out, these people will already be well entrenched in a Microsoft ecosystem.