"We would only focus on Windows if the market forced us": Antonio Quirós

Almost two months ago, the Spanish company Bq announced the Bq Tesla W8, a tablet with Windows 8 that caught most of us by surprise. At Xataka Windows we wanted to know more about this tablet and the reason for its existence.

For this we have been speaking with Antonio Quirós, Vice President and Post-Sales Director of Bq - Mundo Reader, who has explained to us what has made a company traditionally focused on Android leave its area of comfort and the conclusions and experiences they draw from all of this. We leave you with his answers.

Xataka Windows: What made you take the leap and launch a tablet with Windows?

Antonio Quirós: We like to experiment, and even though we are an Android company we didn't want to stop testing what was happening in the world Windows.

We also took advantage of another situation: testing by assembling in a different assembler. We have a bit of a complex that we don't assemble in the main Chinese assemblers. The main one is Foxconn. We wanted to see what levels of quality we had in a more “luxury” assembler, so to speak. And the truth is that our experience has not been much better than usual.

"It is true that since it is such an experimental thing, the quality controls that we usually put in here have been proceeded in a different way. This is a project that Microsoft promotes for small manufacturers that act as a white label, so to speak, so that they can release these types of tablets.We don&39;t participate in the same way we do when we release Android tablets, where we have full control."

Xataka Windows: Why did you choose Windows 8 and not RT?

We think full Windows 8 is better than RT for users.

Antonio Quirós: This is a project that Microsoft is fostering for various small partners through Foxconn, and it went with Windows 8. But we also prefer that it be with full 8 than with RT because we think it's better for the user.

Xataka Windows: And the size? It is curious that you have chosen a large tablet seeing the market trend towards small tablets.

Antonio Quirós: What's up. The figures say otherwise. This year has been the debacle of the 7-inch tablets, they have dropped resoundingly.Samsung, for example, has been selling the 7-inch Galaxy > The big winners are the large tablets, not the 7-inch ones.

The big winners are the big ones. The 10-inch ones have been more successful than the small ones. Perhaps this is partly also because of the approach of telephony, the _phablets_. They are getting closer and closer to the size of the small tablet. People think, big mobile, small tablet is almost the same. So they go to big mobile and big tablet. The market has fallen a lot and if it has been maintained it has been because of the stock they had to take out.

Xataka Windows: What are the main differences when developing a Windows tablet and an Android tablet?

Antonio Quirós: There has been very little participation from us in the parameters with which Tesla comes out. There has been logically in the tests, to guarantee that it has reasonable quality standards.Broadly speaking, Microsoft provides the design and we provide the brand. In addition, there are very few units, it is fundamentally an experiment.

Xataka Windows: How do you see the demand for Windows tablets?

Antonio Quirós: There is little. We work in the retail channel (MediaMarkt, Fnac, etc.), and it is not very receptive towards Windows tablets. Very little is sold compared to Android or iOS, at least in Spain. So of course, the channel doesn't want many experiments with things that don't sell much either.

Few Windows tablets are sold compared to Android or iOS

But there are other important issues as well. I think that the price marks a lot here. It is much more expensive than Android tablets and otherwise there is very little distinction. In our specific case, we released Android tablets because we have a very strong price differentiation with the rest of the players.Logically, our top-of-the-range tablet costs a third of what an iPad costs, or half of what an equivalent Samsung costs. So we always go to a market that is highly positioned in price. On the other hand, in Windows it is not the case: between the fact that you have to pay for Windows licenses, which cost the same as the others; and because the machine is assembled in a way that doesn't allow us to differentiate on price, our tablet is more expensive than the older Surface RT offerings. There is not a price difference. So for us it doesn't end up being a solid bet right now.

Xataka Windows: Do you have plans to continue launching tablets with Windows?

Antonio Quirós: No. As of today we have continuity plans on Android, but not on Windows. And in the event that Android fails, we would go to Ubuntu mainly. We would go to Windows only if the market forced us.

Xataka Windows: Are you considering a similar foray into the world of Windows Phone?

Antonio Quirós: At the moment we don't have any plans. There are different issues. On hardware issues we are working with MediaTek, focused on lower cost mobiles, and which is giving reasonable results. Windows Phone does not work with MediaTek. Now it turns out that Intel is positioning itself as another great low-middle-cost mobile hardware provider. They want to be one of the big players, and when that happens maybe Windows Phone will pull a bit. Windows Phone may also move forward as the Android market is doing.

Windows Phone may become an alternative if the market evolves. If things continue as they are now, it's complicated: you're faced with license costs, with the fact that Microsoft will manufacture its own hardware… As of today, we don't have any plans with Windows Phone.

So far the interview. We do not say goodbye without once again thanking Antonio Quirós and Bq for serving us and answering our questions. We hope you found the interview interesting.