No Microsoft Windows 8 tablet until 2012

Microsoft won’t release a tablet device running Windows 8 until 2012, a report from Bloomberg has claimed.

The report says sources indicate the new version of Windows will begin testing at the end of this year. The new software is said to be more intuitive with touch interfaces.

But the delay means that Microsoft won’t be releasing a Windows 8 tablet until well after Apple has managed to release its second – and possibly third – iPad.

Various other competitors including RIM, Samsung and BlackBerry will also have released their own devices by then.

“If 2011 is the year of the tablet wars, Microsoft will be awfully late suiting up for that battle,” Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told Bloomberg.