A Digitimes report has quoted Acer founder Stan Shih as saying that Microsoft does not intend to remain in the tablet hardware market. He apparently claims that Microsoft’s recent Surface tablet is a move to get other hardware manufacturers started on making Windows 8 tablets and, after this has been achieved, that the company intends to withdraw from making tablet hardware.
The report may be taken with a pinch of salt since it makes clear that Shih is not privy to Microsoft’s actual strategy on the hardware front. The report cites Shih as saying that Microsoft has no reason to compete with other tablet makers because doing so is less profitable than licensing software.
Microsoft’s views on the matter as stated by the Acer founder are unknown but we’ll have an update once more is known.