When it comes to smartphones and tablets, you’ve gotta feel for Microsoft -- they’re underdogs these days when it comes to such markets, while companies like Apple and Google continue to grow with no end in sight. But one thing you can say for Microsoft, they’re persistent.
MacRumors is reporting that Microsoft is taking a “never say die” attitude toward the tablet market currently dominated by Apple’s iPad. According to The New York Times, the Windows PC giant will take to the stage at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January to take the wraps off their counterattack on iOS and Android tablets.
“According to people familiar with Microsoft's plans, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive, is expected to announce a number of these devices when he takes the stage at CES, showcasing devices built by Samsung and Dell, among a number of other manufacturing partners,” the Times report revealed.
Ironically, Microsoft has been excited about the slate/tablet concept for years, but none of their efforts to date have caught on with buyers, let alone made even a dent against competitors such as the iPad or even the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Now, Microsoft is back with more Windows 7-based tablets, taking aim at productivity features as a way to combat the iPad menace. “The company believes there is a huge market for business people who want to enjoy a slate for reading newspapers and magazines and then work on Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint while doing work,” according to a Times source familiar with Redmond’s current plans.
MacRumors notes that Ballmer and Co. were heavily touting tablets a year ago, at a time when the iPad was little more than a series of crazy Apple rumors. Microsoft demoed the HP Slate at this year’s CES show, a full Windows 7 tablet device that essentially fizzled on the launch pad (no pun intended).
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(Image courtesy of MacRumors)
BigDaddy54
December 14, 2010 at 10:12am
Just in time too. They should be able to surpass those few units Apple has sold already.
sportmac
December 14, 2010 at 8:02am
Ballmer: ms may not be the first or the best but we just keep coming and coming and coming...
translation: we'll pump money into it until you die.
yep, that's persistent. when the normal business model won't do (you know, that pesky profit and loss thing) simply use the cash cow twins. examples:
xbox lost over 10 billion big ones before it's first profitable quarter. to put that in some kind of perspective, with 10 billion they could have built themselves their very own international space station.
that's persistent.microsoft internet strategies (msn, msn search and all the names for search they've used since, hotmail, etc) have never, in over a decade, make a nickel. close to another 10 billion in losses.
zune loses around 100 million a year.
to put that in some kind of perspective, with that second 10 billion they could have built themselves their very own cern large hadron collider.
that's persistent.that's why windows phone 7 will never die and microsoft stores will never die. not at least until the cash cows home home.
