Big name 3rd-party company: "hey Microsoft, did you see Nintendo's new iPad console thingy? Maybe you should make one too."
Microsoft: "yeah, it's nice and all, but I don't think it will work for us. Maybe for Nintendo. They like to do things their way."
Big name 3rd-party company: "well that sucks. You know, we would really like it of you guys copied each other, that way our games can run on all your systems. Otherwise we won't make games for your system like we do for Nintendo and you are going to loose money.

"
Microsoft: "oh wait, I mean, we do have something. In the works right now. It's not ready yet but we will have a tablet thingy too."