Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 will NOT be on tablets

by Steven Mostyn - Jul 14 2011, 10:00

As Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS battle it out for superiority in the tablet market, American software giant Microsoft has this week officially withdrawn the prospect of Windows Phone 7 joining the fight.

Speaking on Tuesday during Microsoft’s Worldwide Partners Conference, Windows Phone boss Andy Lees indicated that tablet devices are more closely aligned with conventional PC hardware and therefore should host a more suitably attuned operating platform.

“A lot of people have asked me, are we going to produce a phone that is a tablet? Well, that is a conflict, with this strategy,” said Lees.

“We view a tablet as a sort of PC,” he added. “We want people to be able to do the sorts of things that they expect on a PC on a tablet.”

Lees padded out that statement by saying desktop iterations of Microsoft’s Windows software (Windows 8 anyone?) offer tablet users a better array of PC functionality, specifically when it comes to printing and networking.

His comments come after Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer conceded ground to industry rivals by saying that Windows Phone 7 remains “very small” when compared to other popular platforms.

Although Windows Phone 7 may never make the mobile shift to tablet computers, the Redmond-based specialist is clearly not giving up on creating “a unified ecosystem” that brings Microsoft-powered PCs, mobile phones and tablets together.

Expect more on that unified offering during Microsoft’s upcoming Build Conference in September.

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