In football, there is the phrase that, "if you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none." This refers to the lack of confidence a team may have in one player to lead them forward. This idea is beautifully reflected in the tablet marketplace today, with companies lacking any definite direction in what OS to put on their new slate-style machines. According to Digitimes, Toshiba is going to release three tablets in 2011 and intends to show them off at CES in January. What's crazy but not surprising about this, of course, is that these three tablets will all have different operating systems. Digitimes claims that they will independently run Windows 7, Android, and Chrome OS. This sort of distracted and fragmented approach for a company almost guarantees that none of them are going to be that impressive, especially since the Android tablet is the only one that has a realistic chance of succeeding. Windows 7 has been proven to not be a useful or compelling tablet OS, and the thought of navigating Chrome OS through a touch interface that is reliant on tabs sounds like a nightmare.
As much as one could heap scorn on Toshiba for this half-baked approach, it doesn't seem to be unique among the more nondescript PC makers who are struggling to differentiate themselves in the approaching post-PC era. Just last month, Acer announced similar plans to release Android and Windows 7 tablets, hoping that something will catch on. For manufacturers used to shipping PCs in boxes that contained the same components, these are difficult times. If a company is not a software company, they are going to either be let down by Microsoft in the short term or ship Android tablets with no help from Google until next year. This is why HP bought Palm, to give them a credible mobile, touch-centric OS. For companies like Acer and Toshiba to use all three operating systems, it shows a lack of confidence in any of their options and in their own products. Until they can build their own systems or have better direction from Microsoft or Google, expect these types of half-hearted attempts to continue for a while.