Microsoft To Launch 'iPad Killer' Tablets At CES

Information Week ^ | 2010-12-14 | Paul McDougall

[dayglored]

Report says Redmond will finally get around to shipping devices that can compete with Apple's slate and Android-based devices.

Microsoft plans to introduce a range of new tablets powered by its Windows 7 operating system at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to a published report.

The software maker, which is under pressure to produce a slate that can go head-to-head with Apple's iPad and devices powered by Google's Android OS, will unveil slates manufactured by OEM partners Dell and Samsung, according The New York Times.

The Times, citing unnamed sources, said the Samsung devices would be "similar in size and shape" to the iPad, but not as thin and equipped with a slide-out keyboard. The newspaper did not offer details on the Dell device.

Microsoft's credibility in the tablet market has come into question, as the company has failed to deliver on previous promises to deliver a full range of slates. CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage at CES 2010 almost a year ago to demonstrate a Windows-powered HP slate.

"We're talking about something that's almost as portable as a phone and that's as powerful as a PC running Windows 7," said Ballmer. But the device failed to materialize in stores.

[dayglored]

Ballmer is going to make an "iPad Killer"?

Best of luck with that, Steve.

[dayglored]

Tech/Apple pings, please?

[dayglored]

Am I right that you have the iPod/iPad ping list? If so, ping please?

[dayglored]

Once again I bemoan the lack of an FR “Windows” or “Microsoft” ping list...

[Seruzawa]

Late with a buggy Windows product. Well done Microsoft. some things never change. Line up beta testers!

[RayChuang88]

Ah, no thanks. I'll wait instead for tablets powered by the new Android 3.0 (code name Honeycomb) software from Google, which will be coming around April-May 2011.

[dennisw]

M$ better start hustling and do it fast because Cupertino has sprouted a ten headed hydra that destroys all in its path

[dayglored]

> Late with a buggy Windows product. Well done Microsoft. some things never change. Line up beta testers!

Well, to be fair to Microsoft:

1. All software has bugs
2. We don't know that the MS tablet will be any buggier than the competition

I welcome Microsoft to this market. They've got as much right to carve out a share as anyone.

I just don't think they're likely to "kill" the iPad, so talking in that vein is a bit over the top.

[mgstarr]

At least they'll keep a bunch of techs employed to fix their cr@p.

[dayglored]

> Cupertino has sprouted a ten headed hydra that destroys all in its path

Why, Dennis, I'm shocked! I think you've actually complimented Apple. Albeit, rather back-handedly. :)

[pburgh01]

Yea like the Zune was going to kill the Ipod, Windows Vista would stem Apple's increasing marketshare, this new Windows Phone OS was going to dominate the market and is expected to flop spectacularly , despite 10’s of million in advertising. I know it's cool to bash MS, so I won't. They do some things fairly well, like their SQL Server and Windows 7 is a good OS, but these forays into “Ego” ventures that Balmer and company embark in is foolish. Ego as in they see a successful product and get obsessed with destroying that competitor, ala Japan in the 1980’s with their cars. The spend gobs of money on badly engineered products for no other reason than to put the market leader out of business, not to make a superior product. It worked in software, Oracle is a dinosaur with a cult following but a shrinking marketshare , Sun is going away, Internet Explorer destroyed Netscape. But with exception of the XBOX360, Microsoft has failed spectacularly when going into hardware\software ventures.

[dayglored]

Ballmer, selling Windows 1.0.

Stolen here:

http://www.digitalversus.com/curiosity-when-steve-balmer-was-pushing-windows-1-0-news-16688.html

[dayglored]

> this new Windows Phone OS was going to dominate the market and is expected to flop spectacularly , despite 10’s of million in advertising

You dropped a zero:

...despite 100’s of million in advertising

[dennisw]

If I had to pick between the two bald headed stooges, Uncle Stevie pulls it off lots better than that goofball Ballmer. But Win7 is great and I won’t be donating blood to the Cupertino vampires anytime soon.

[mgstarr]

Okay that was funny :-)

[SeeSac]

Windows Vista would stem Apple's increasing marketshare

Apple's sales are up 2% year over year (3rd quarter). And that is with total market sales increasing. They may be peaking.

[dennisw]

Hilarious!

[st.eqed]

I actually welcome M$ to this party. “Do no evil” is creepy, even though there product has the most promise, iOS is almost there with the iPad 2, my big complaint is the screen. I am dreaming of using the Pixel Qi (or other e-ink competitor.

[Michael Barnes]

Poor microsoft...they became too big and now can’t move as fast as the “other guys”. Late with their phone, late with a tablet; I wonder what else they will come to last week with?

[mgstarr]

October 18, 2010: Apple sold 3.89 million Macs during the quarter, a 27 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 14.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 91 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.05 million iPods during the quarter, representing an 11 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company also sold 4.19 million iPads during the quarter.

They may be peaking

Perhaps not.