Ballmer Says Microsoft Is 'Hardcore' About Tablets

gbll writes with news that Microsoft is gearing up to aggressively pursue the tablet PC market, according to CEO Steve Ballmer. Microsoft is working with a variety of hardware companies including Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony, to release Windows 7 slates later this year. "These slates will be available at a variety of price points and in a variety of form factors — with keyboards, touch only, dockable, able to handle digital ink, etc. Since Ballmer showed off a prototype of a Windows 7 slate from Hewlett-Packard at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the company has said next-to-nothing about how it planned to address the slate form-factor space. ... Ballmer never mentioned the iPad or the coming Chrome OS-based slates by name during his remarks. Microsoft’s pitch will be that these slates will be sanctioned by corporate IT departments, enabling customers to use them at work and at home."

Comments

Re:Kin?

[commodore64_love]

Eh... (shrugs)

Microsoft's never been a market leader. Other companies like Atari, Commodore, and Apple did the innovating while Microsoft just rode on the coattails of the popular IBM PC, and copied the other guys' ideas (5-10 years later) over to Windows. It doesn't appear Microsoft ever had the ability to be inventive, and it doesn't look they will ever gain that ability.

To expect MS to produce a Wonder Tablet of the future is like expecting a mule to get pregnant
.