Laptop Thoughts: Windows Phone 7 Tablets a Possibility?

"There is a lot of speculation about what the agreement announced last week between chip designer ARM and Microsoft actually means. Some pundits predict that it is a signal that Microsoft intends to deliver Windows or Windows Phone OS tablet and slate devices, while others foresee an overdue overhaul of the Xbox's architecture."

Ah, blogger speculation at its finest! Microsoft announces an agreement with ARM, and the speculation engine revs into overdrive. I think there are a couple of possibilities here, though I'm not sure I place much stock in the idea of this being for putting Windows Phone 7 on a tablet. I really want to believe that Microsoft has figured out that Windows 7 is a poor choice for a touch-based operating system, but they've said things to the contrary on several occasions. I think Windows Phone 7 would be great on a tablet based on what I've seen, but they'd need to re-design that home screen and menu system. It seems to work well on a small screen (boy, do I ever wish I had some hands-on time with such a device) but on a bigger tablet device, I'm not so sure. One thing IS for sure: if Microsoft and their OEM partners want to have any hope of competing with the iPad and Android-based devices, they're going to have to come up with a lightweight OS.