Microsoft plan on bringing self-branded tablets to market in 2012 but are they cool enough?

It doesn’t take a genius to note that thus far the Windows 8 tech demos we’ve seen have had a big emphasis on touch interface and share a heck of a lot with Windows Phone’s Metro UI. What is more Windows 8 will almost certainly be hitting a host of tablets as well as the next generation of desktops and laptops.

Those such as ARM have already demoed a few devices with some iteration of Windows 8 but what about Microsoft stamping their own branding on a tablet. It’s a trick they tried before with Zune, the Kin and a few own-brand TV’s, all of which yielded disappointing results, due in-part to the fact that the Microsoft name just doesn’t have the ‘cool’ factor they wish it did. In fact so far the only definably successful product bearing the Microsoft name has been the Xbox 360 and even then it’s down-played to just the “Xbox 360″, sounds to me like in their heart of hearts they know it’s not cool either.

Are Microsoft playing with fire and condemning a new range of tablet devices to an early grave before they’ve even been finalized? We’re unsure, but sources at DigiTimes say that somewhere fairly high up in the supply chain, there’s a tablet in the works bearing Microsoft’s name. The device is likely to be a Texas Instruments based ARM-powered machine, built by a Tawain based ODM. Say for the fact you’ll probably get a capacitive high-res touch screen and some WiFi, there’s basically nothing else to really say here, so we’ll have to wait and see how the public receive a Microsoft tab, expected sometime in 2012. Would you buy one?

To see more examples of how Windows 8 operates check out this video here (jump to 5:30 to skip the initial talking and see the action).

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