• Sydney Morning Herald, Wednesday, March 30, 2011 11:49 AM

Craig Mundie, Microsoft's global chief research and strategy officer, isn't sold on the long-term viability of tablet computers. Rather, the smartphone, "as it emerges more, will become your most personal computer," Mundie said at a conference this week as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.

It's fair to call Mundie's forecast wishful thinking given that Microsoft has been left in the dust by Apple, which is experiencing great success with tablets, as well as Google, which is considered to have a bright future in the category. "Mundie's comments about tablets go some way toward explaining why the software giant has only made a half-hearted attempt to enter the tablet space so far," writes The Herald.

That's despite the fact that "tablets are the fastest-growing category of computers ... but it is largely a two-horse race between Apple and Google's Android." Skeptical though it is, Microsoft is backing several Windows 7-based tablets. Yet, as The Herald notes, "These have been heavily criticized because they do not offer a more modern touch-friendly interface, instead attempting to shoe-horn the regular desktop version of Windows into a tablet form factor."

Read the whole story at Sydney Morning Herald »