Can Microsoft "Freeze" the Tablet Market?

Back in the "old days," suppliers often would try to "freeze" markets by announcing upcoming new products, in the hope that buyers then would hold off purchasing a rival's product, until the supplier "pre-announcing" had time to get its own model to market. 


It used to work. So some now speculate on whether Microsoft is trying to freeze buyers by announcing its own branded tablet. Some of us doubt that old tactic will work. There simply are too many tablets available, and too little distinctiveness, for many to wait.


Unless, of course, the wait is a couple of months for a brand-new version of the Apple iPad. Both installed base and "plan to purchase" forecasts suggest Apple has a commanding lead in the tablet space, and that any Microsoft move in unlikely to shift much demand away from Apple, no matter what Microsoft does.


There could be some benefit with respect to other tablets running Android, though.