Is Microsoft waiting too long to launch a tablet to compete with the iPad?

Microsoft is running out of time to come up with a Windows tablet to challenge Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle Fire, according to a new report.

The report by Forrester Research indicates that consumer interest in a tablet computer running Windows is down considerably from the first of the year. The Redmond computer giant isn’t expected to have a tablet on retail shelves until fall of next year. In the third quarter of 2011, 25 percent of people surveyed by Forrester said they would prefer a tablet with Windows, according to a blog post by The New York Times. That’s down from 46 percent in the first quarter of the year.

Nokia plans to release a tablet using the Windows Phone 8 platform, but the tablet won’t be available until next summer. South Korea’s Samsung Electronics also is said to be working with Microsoft on the new Windows 8-powered tablet computer.

In September, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky showed a new tablet to developers in California -- a product that is being unveiled two-and-a-half years after Apple introduced its wildly popular iPad.

So is Microsoft too late to the game?

Here is an executive summary of the Forrester report:

Microsoft faces challenges in the tablet market due to its late entry. While Windows 8 looks like a promising product for tablet computing, its release won’t come until sometime next year. Though Microsoft’s OEM partners are embracing the platform, consumer interest has plummeted during the past nine months. Windows product strategists will have to overcome several disadvantages associated with being a fifth mover in the tablet market. Product strategists in any industry have to evaluate their potential to be “fast followers”: Waiting too long to follow raises the bar your product must meet to compete.