[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] e.mote:
>price point will be the biggest factor.

As a company, competing on price is a last resort, since it damages your brand. Once consumers associate your wares with low price, it will be tougher to "go premium" in the future. Companies normally start out competing on price until they establish their brand, then they go premium using the brand as leverage.

>wouldn't price point also be a factor for win8 tablets also in order to compete with Android and Apple?

As full-fledged computers, Win8 devices' reference of comparison will be laptops, which have more diverse price points. Functionally, an iPad isn't the equal of a Win (or OS X) computer, so it doesn't make sense to use iPad's price as a yardstick. Ideally, MS wants to position tabs as "premium" laptops w/ detachable screens. Practically, iPad pricing will have a downward influence.

Note that minimum res for "full-function" Win8 will be 1366x768, which excludes the netbook crop. IMO this is deliberate, and is a business decision. Metro UI was designed for the phone, and small res is its forte. But MS doesn't want Win8 to be runnable on netbooks at this point, as netbook pricing will pull down the reference pricing for all Win8 tabs.

I expect Win8 x86 tabs to cover the entire $500-1000 spectrum for initial launch. ARM tabs, assuming WOA isn't late, will probably be $100-200 less. That's why vendors are getting on the Win8 bandwagon. Win8 tabs can command a higher price than Android tabs. With cutthroat price competition from Amazon's Fire (and soon its 10" at $300), Android tab market is not a good place to be.

>how can Android or Win8/Microsoft take over and surpass Apple in tablet sales?

The iPad can't be a primary computing device. It's not in direct competition with Win8. Win8's competition will come when OS X gets touch-ified, which is probably a year or two off.

Google had its chance last year to break into the tab market. Now it calls for a desperation move, and a $200-300 tab would be in order. Neither iPad nor Win8 tab will cover the under-$300 segment, and that's where I see Android's niche to be. Google shouldn't care, since its bread comes from search & ad hits, which is the same regardless if a device is low or high-priced.

>I think Bill Gates needs to really jump back into this scene. he was the one who actually predicted and described the original Ipad like 10years before it was ever released in a well known interview.

IMO, Gates was a good businessman who took advantage of the lucky break afforded to MS-DOS, and built MS into a powerhouse. He's not a tech visionary, and his various computing ventures have failed spectacularly outside of Windows. The trick isn't in saying that tablets will be the computing future, but when and how. It's like predicting we're all going to die, which is true enough. But when each of us will die, and how, are the interesting bits.

>Apple needs to be knocked off its thrown asap or no one else will hold the title of best selling tablet device.

Apple is doing the computing world a service, by leading the charge and promoting competition. Its "all your toys are belong to us" philosophy can be off-putting, but that's why there are alternatives. It's not a zero-sum game where there can be only one winner. Everybody benefit from the increased competition. Without the iPhone, there wouldn't be Android. Without the iPad, Windows will continue to be bloated and complacent.

Pundits like to play the apocalyptic "win-lose" game for sensationalized effect. I think Windows will continue to do well, and Android likewise will thrive in the low-cost space. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

I'm looking forward to see what new Win8 toys will appear in the fall. It's a safe bet that most laptops will have a touch screen, since Win8 is so touch-oriented. In fact, I'd go as far to say that users with non-touch laptops should stick to Win7, because Win8 is really awkward for KB/mouse.

I'm not sure how well Win8 will do on the desktop. It takes much more effort to raise your arms to use the touch UI in desktop mode.

>Intels cloverfield/medfield x86 SoC will be deciding factor to Win 8

I'm not sure how well the x86 (incl AMD) toys will perform, but it will have several advantages over ARM, more than just for legacy software. First, OS can be user-installable, meaning you're not at the mercy of the device vendor for OS upgrades--a major problem for Android and likely one for WOA. Second, while Win8 won't have "custom ROMs", we'll have Linux, hopefully with a touch-based UI. ARM devices will be tougher given the each vendor's different hardware, plus secured boot will be mandatory on ARM.