And Now A Good Sign For Windows 8 Tablets

Microsoft's CFO Peter Klein spoke at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference yesterday and dropped a few hints at the future of the company's Windows 8 Surface tablets, including the potential for smaller devices that could compete with Apple's iPad Mini and Google's Nexus 7.

Klein said Windows 8 is versatile enough to work on screens as small as 4 inches and as large as 27 inches, meaning Microsoft (and its hardware partners) could potentially flood the market with a ton of devices in every size and shape imaginable.

"I think we're really well setup to deliver the most versatile set of experiences across form factors, whether that's 4-inch, 5-inch, 7-inch, 8-inch, 10-inch, 13-inch," Klein said.

There have been a few reports that Microsoft is working on its own smaller tablet designed for media consumption. According to The Verge, that tablet will be part of the Xbox family and center on gaming and watching streaming content.

Apps wouldn't be a problem on smaller Windows 8 devices either, Klein said. Windows 8 is designed to scale apps to any screen size, whether its a smartphone, desktop, or something in between. That's always been the ultimate dream for developers, the ability to write an app once and run it on any machine.

And that'll make a very enticing offer to developers once the Windows 8 device portfolio expands to include more form factors. It could also fix the problem with Microsoft's poor Windows 8 app selection.