Intel is itching to get a toehold in the mobile device market. But unless Apple switches its much vaunted mobile devices to the x86 processor architecture on a whim, the only way Intel can hope to achieve a position approaching strength in the mobile market is by supporting Android. The real question now is not whether Android will run on Intel’s x86-based processors or not, as we already know the answer to it is yes, but how well.

Microsoft is unlike other pretenders to the tablet throne, all of whom are simply following Apple’s lead, in that it wants Windows 8-based tablets to deliver both the versatility and power of traditional PCs and the pickup-and-play ease of media tablets. But that’s where the differences end as Redmond also seems to have a fair amount of faith in the old adage “when in Rome . . .” Like Apple, the pioneer of the modern app store, MS also plans to keep 30 percent of all app sales. But that’s not the only part of Apple’s app distribution model to have caught Microsoft's fancy.