Allied Business Intelligence, Inc. (referred to as ABI Research (News - Alert)), a company that provides forecasting and trends analysis in connectivity and technology, conducted  research on the rapidly-changing technology industry and indicated that Apple’s (News - Alert) iPad may just get some competition from the Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows RT-based tablets, which are set to hit the market later this year.

Microsoft’s (News - Alert) tablet devices have yet to be released—rumors indicate that they will be released starting in October 2012—and ABI Research questions whether or not there will be any market opportunity for the Microsoft surfaced tablets; will these new tablets be what enterprise users desire?

Too many questions are still unanswered, but ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts expects Microsoft’s new tablet computers will only account for 1.3% percent of the 2012 global shipments; resulting, of course, in little impact on the market this year if they do have a launch date for the fall season as predicted.

As of now, however, there is not enough evidence for the experts to predict what kind of impact on the market Microsoft’s Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows RT-based tablets will have for next year; we will have to wait for these devices to be released, sold and bought by consumers. Only then, can ABI Research’s Media Tablet Market Share Tracker provide again their quantitative forecasting and trends analysis of what is to come of Microsoft's new surfaced tablets.

There is no doubt that Microsoft’s tablets will be appealing to Window-platform users who desire a new OS and a custom version of the Microsoft Office suite pre-installed, in addition to presenting new features and functionality. The devices will probably be appealing also for users looking for different prices – they will likely cost less than Apple’s iPads and have a competitive price of those tablets that run Android (News - Alert); this will definitely be a determining factor in the sales number of Microsoft tablets.

In order to know for certain if Microsoft’s tablets will become a success this year or next, consumers will need to check back again with ABI Researchfor more marketing intelligence and trend analysis on tablets, as well as to know which branded tablets have an impact or not on today's technology markets.

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