iPad News: Microsoft CEO Promises Tablet for Holidays

Posted Oct 6, 2010 at 2:12PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: iPad News Tags: apple, ios, Microsoft, microsoft tablet, news, Steve Ballmer, tablet

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Remember Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft head honcho who had his year-end bonus slashed last week after the company’s sales fell? He’s back in the news this week with a promise that some don’t think he can keep. While speaking at the London School of Economics earlier this week, Ballmer sounded like he just doesn’t get why Apple is kicking MS ass. “We, as a company, will need to cover all form factors, and certainly we have done work around the tablet as both a productivity device and a consumption device. You know, I’ve been looking around the world today, and frankly, the people who are typing with a keyboard look more comfortable physically than the people I've seen typing without.” Does that mean that every device has to have a keyboard rather than a touchscreen? This doesn’t bode well for the design features we can expect from the Microsoft tablet, when it shows up. Ballmer continued, “And so exactly where the form factors are and how they evolve — and you’ll see, you know, slates with Windows on them. You’ll see them this Christmas. You’ll see them continue to change and evolve. But if you really want most of the benefits of what a PC has to offer — the ability to create and consume, take documents of all types — a form factor that actually has been tuned for a lot of things over a number of years, we certainly have a superior device, and you’ll see us continue to expand the footprint that Windows does a good job of targeting over time.” This sounds ominously like we can expect the same-ole, same-ole from any tablet delivered by MS in the near future. If the mythical MS tab does come out in time for Christmas, it’s likely to resemble the boring tablet computers Microsoft has put out in the past rather than the iPad. Not only has the company lost its ability to innovate, it can’t even do a good job copying innovations from Apple.

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