Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 8, has been out in the wild for almost a year now. But while it is slowly increasing its market share, touch based PCs are still a bit of a negative mark on things.
Touch enabled devices still make up low sales number, owning in no small part to their higher cost when compared to regular non touch models. And this is on factor that is often cited as one of the reasons for the comparatively slow adoption of the new OS.
Redmond is doing all it can to change this – from optimizing its upcoming Windows 8.1 for touch devices of all form factors and sizes, to collaborating with any and all hardware vendors.
And now Microsoft has joined hands with Intel in changing things for the touch based market. Both companies want to see the situation further improving by the end of the year. While it can be said things are not all that bad on the ultrabooks front, but there still is room for improvement.
As Kirk Skaugen of Intel explained at the recently concluded IDF, around 70 percent of available ultrabooks in the market offer touch functionality. But both companies would have made no secret of their desire to see this percentage rise up to a full 100 percent.
The latest analysis from market research firm NPD Group reveals that touch based devices are on track to drive significant volumes this holiday season.
And this is exactly what Microsoft wants to see as it prepares to unleash Windows 8.1.
