The Zune all over again

Microsoft not to get into the tablet market until 2012. [Link]

“If 2011 is the year of the tablet wars, Microsoft will be awfully late suiting up for that battle,” said Michael Gartenberg, a New Jersey-based analyst for research firm Gartner Inc. “It’s not a good position to be in.”

Gartenberg said a 2012 debut for Microsoft would likely put it up against a third-generation iPad from Apple and second and third versions of devices based on Google’s Android system. Hewlett-Packard Co. and Research In Motion Ltd will probably also release second-generation tablets by then, he said.

Mark Martin, a Microsoft spokesman, declined to comment.

This is what happened to the Zune, a nice media player that came to the party way too late to matter.