Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) answer to the runaway success of the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad will not arrive until the latter half of 2012 at least, according to a new report published by Businessweek. According to the article's unnamed sources, Microsoft is taking its time so as to take "a more Apple-like approach to interface design this time around." Current plans envision public testing with partners and customer at the end of this year. 

The Redmond-based software giant is reportedly hard at work on related initiatives such as porting its Windows operating system over to the ARM platform. Indeed, around a thousand engineers were reportedly dedicated to this task. Working on ARM-based chips is crucial due to its recognized power-efficiency, which has seen its adoption in chips that are widely used to power smartphones and tablets today.

Unfortunately, the lengthy timeframe does not bode well for Microsoft. On this, Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg observed: "If 2011 is the year of the tablet wars, Microsoft will be awfully late suiting up for that battle." With the iPad 2 already announced this week, it is likely that Microsoft's debut tablet will be forced to go toe-to-toe against third generation tablets from Apple as well as second-generation tablets from the many Android tablet makers, RIM's (NASDAQ: RIMM) PlayBook and Hewlett-Packard's TouchPad.

With pressure to make its late-birthed Windows Phone 7 a success and pressure to retain its lead with a desktop centric version of Windows 8, the question is whether Microsoft has far too much on its plate. Do you think Microsoft will be able to pull off a tablet end-run? I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at eWeek
- check out this article at CNET News
- check out this article at SF Gate
- check out this article at Businessweek

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