Windows 8 vs iOS and Apple's dilema

Posted by eibrajamisrael.saenzclark on July 15, 2012 01:42 pm 122

Although I see some critics against Windows 8 in a traditional desktop environment,when you switch to tablets on every review I've seen, people prefers Windows 8 to iOS (iPad). This important because tablets are selling faster than Desktops and Laptops.

Apple's advantage on the tablet space has been hardware and ecosystem, the fact that Apple manages to get the fastest GPU, broader peripherals support and the fact that they have the best mobile ecosystem and committed developers makes the iPad a better tablet than any other Android alternative thus far.

But windows 8 changes all of that, you can argue that windows RT and iOS compete on the same level, but when you factor in the power and flexibility of the x86 version, iOS gets owned every time. There is faster hardware available for windows 8 than it is for iOS or Android. Not to mention the plethora of form factors it enables and use cases it satisfies.

The cheer performance you get from the x86 version of windows 8 its just in a league of its own, ARM is still years behind x86 in terms of performance, and while it is true that it offers longer battery life, we are starting to see ultrabooks with more than 7:00 battery life already, once you pass that threshold, the battery life factor becomes less and less important, but the gains on speed and general usability are tremendous.

The fact that iOS no longer possess the technical advantage now, puts Apple in a very difficult situation, they will need to play catchup with windows 8, and given that ARM will not likely be on par with x86 (intel and AMD) in the upcoming years, they will have to make the switch to x86, relegating ARM to low cost devices like the iPhone and its possible iPad mini or what ever its called. if they don't make the jump, they wont be able to scale iOS to compete with windows 8 feature by feature.

If Apple do make the jump to x86 on tablets on the other hand and scale up iOS to compete with windows 8, they will then cannibalize OSX for laptops, relegating it to desktop powerhouses only. I personally believe they are waiting and see what the reception to windows 8 will be to make the switch and just wait for OSX to slowly die.

So what do you guys think, will iOS jump the x86 wagon? Will it ever compete with Windows 8? Will ARM ever catchup with x86? Does having a 15 hours battery life device makes it that much better than one that performs much better but only last half of that?, Does having a device a few milliliters thicker is a big tread off?

This is the most interesting year in technology since the introduction of windows 95 I believe, great things to come around ;)