Microsoft's Ballmer Says Windows Slates By Christmas

[engine]

Microsoft's Ballmer Says Windows Slates By Christmas [reuters.com]

A Microsoft slate to counter Apple's popular iPad tablet computer will be seen by the Christmas holiday, Microsoft's Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday.

Ballmer did not say whether the palm-sized slates would actually be on sale in time for Christmas, nor did he say who would make them. Microsoft has been slow to respond to the iPad, and has also made little headway in mobile phones.

"You'll see new slates with Windows on them. You'll see them this Christmas," he told an audience of students, staff and journalists at the London School of Economics.

[maximillianos]

Blah blah blah. Guarantee Microsoft won't release a real competitor to the iPad by Christmas. They will be lucky if their Win 7 phone bugs are worked out by then.

[incrediBILL]

Microsoft won't release a real competitor to the iPad by Christmas

The slate/tablet itself already exists, several of them are ready to roll.

It's the boatload of touchscreen apps that don't exist yet for Win 7.

Bunches of Android tablets are also being released (see Engadget) and the Android platform has a leg up on Windows slates, because Android encouraged lots of apps to be developed just like Apple did. If Windows can pull a bunch of slate specific apps out of their hats, maybe they have a fighting chance.

[ByronM]

The problem android will face will be market saturation with incohesive devices that don't perform, operate, look or feel the same.

Will be interesting to see what this MS slate will be. Engadget has a photoshop jobby up of a UI that looks like the Zune/WP7 ui

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Being second to the watering hole leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

[hutcheson]

Not a problem: Microsoft wouldn't know what to do with fresh water.

(Still holding out for a 10" Linux, Pixel Qi tablet...)

[wheel]

(Still holding out for a 10" Linux, Pixel Qi tablet...)

Me too. You're working on it right? Somebody should be.

[incrediBILL]

Being second to the watering hole leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Not true.

Being first means all your weaknesses are exposed.

Being second gives you a chance to out class and outpace the existing competition.

Use the Xbox as an example, lots of gaming consoles were already in existence and MS came out swinging and is now a solid contender always ranked at the top of the sales charts.

Based on the initial sales of iPad, not a bad place to be if they can shake off Android.

The problem android will face will be market saturation with incohesive devices that don't perform, operate, look or feel the same.

That's no different than the Android phone market and it makes for an interesting set of choices opposed to the iPad/iPhone one-size-fits-all. At least you can pick a device that fits your budget and personal style instead of forcing your budget and personal style to fit the device.

[weeks]

incrediBill, I typically think it is wise to let some other idiot go in first, but tech-wise, I'm not as certain it's the best biz model. It's really complicated.

[GaryK]

Being second gives you a chance to out class and outpace the existing competition.

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

[BillyS]

Being second gives you a chance to out class and outpace the existing competition.

Agree. While it's nice to enjoy an early lead, followers can learn from user feedback.

No doubt there is going to be a lot of competition in this space and we will reap the benefits. Eventually, someone will sell the device I'm waiting for - hopefully soon.

[wingslevel]

actually microsoft was first to the watering hole, by about 10 years with their XP tablet operating system - remember bill gates proclaimed it the thing of the future - but they were way too early, and, since they didn't control the hardware manufacturing, things didn't gel very well

so apple is the second mouse, and it did get the cheese - big time

[incrediBILL]

actually microsoft was first to the watering hole, by about 10 years with their XP tablet operating system

Much earlier...

I had an 8"x10"-ish Windows 3.x prototype tablet in my hands way back in '91 and they were shortly being sold to niche markets.

However, the hardware and batteries weren't really ready 20, 10 or even 5 years ago.

Apple just hit the sweet spot when the technology convergence peaked.

However, now that Apple has spent all the marketing money to prove there's now a thriving market, they have paved the way for everyone else to enter the tablet market way cheaper.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Well, the prize THIS year goes to ipad since microsoft was a no-show.

I'm sorry but I don't share the thought that the tablet will outclass the ipad, heck with a history of having many security/technical issues they'll need some time to work out the bugs for the tablets version 2... ipad's already there.

I guess I just fail to see how the tablet is slated to be better. I believed Microsoft every time they said the new version of IE would be more secure, I'm not as gullible now. I would love to be proven wrong however but I'm seriously not holding my breath.

The government now wanting back door type access on demand from gadgets doesn't help that matter.

[ByronM]

That's no different than the Android phone market and it makes for an interesting set of choices opposed to the iPad/iPhone one-size-fits-all. At least you can pick a device that fits your budget and personal style instead of forcing your budget and personal style to fit the device.

Sure, choice is nice but on the Cell phone side they at least standardize around the google app store and functionality. On the tablets, there is no market place and if there is to be a market place it is only authorized for tablets that have carrier agreements.

Performance is also a much larger issue on a tablet device vs a phone. Some of these "tablets" have cpus slower/half the speed of cell phone cpus in order to keep prices down and performance/functionality suffers. Add to that the fact these devices aren't authorized and have no app store and you have to sideload stuff and run terribly outdated versions of the OS (mostly to keep you from trying flash which would be too slow)

[travelin cat]

There is no way that they will have their own version out before Christmas. If they wanted this to be a holiday gift idea, it should have been out months ago. There's not enough time to develop buzz for big sales.

[webastronaut]

Apple has always hit the sweet spot of MS. I don't think neither are going away soon.

[hutcheson]

There's still plenty of time before Christmas to get some good "I'm an iPad ... I'm an etch-a-sketch with delusions of adequacy" TV ads.

[bill]

Windows 7 already has touch panel capabilities built-in. You could put it on a tablet today and it should be functional. No app store necessary, just load your regular software. They could certainly have something on a tablet by Xmas.

However, Apple has raised the performance and usability bar significantly for tablets. Windows 7 would most likely be clunky or over-kill on a tablet. It will be interesting to see what they put out. I hope it's not just warmed over Windows 7.

[poppyrich]

incrediBill said:
>Being first means all your weaknesses are exposed.

Yes. And it's rare that the first company with an innovation gets it right.
I happen to think the iPad technically, is very, very good for its purpose.
But that said...
Price, price, price.
And lock in, lock in, lock in.
Bring down the price, free the thing up, retain the usability features and you're in the game. (Android)

[Robert Charlton]

I hope it's not just warmed over Windows 7.

Maybe it will be cooled down and slightly disabled Windows 7.