On the Windows Phone blog today, ...
Microsoft Is Coming “Full Guns” After The iPad
If you thought that Microsoft viewed the iPad as a quaint little device that was no threat to its future, think again. Not only is Microsoft irked at its success, it wants to break its market leadership.
Today Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the iPad has sold “certainly more [units] than I’d like them to have sold.” To combat that, Microsoft is working at top speed to get a rival device out of the door.
What will it look like, and what will it run? Ballmer was deliberately unspecific, but he did have this to say: “The operating system is called Windows.” In short, Microsoft is hoping to translate the great success of Windows 7 on the desktop, and move it to tablets.
Microsoft is “tuning” the operating system for slate use, and will then farm the hardware work to the many companies that focus on Windows devices. Of course, now that HP and Palm are one, expect no HP Windows mobile devices. Concerning the project, Ballmer went on to say that “It is job one urgency. No one is sleeping at the switch.”
The first devices are to be expected late this year, hopefully in time to make a splash in the holiday sales blitz. By then Apple will have sold more than 4 million iPads. Sound off, do you want a Windows 7 slate?
About the AuthorAlex Wilhelm is a Chicago-based technology blogger and entrepreneur. He has worked for a number of technology companies in recent years, and has a particular interest in watching the social web monetize. Follow Alex on Twitter, or on Facebook. You can reach Alex via email at alex@thenextweb.com |
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Discussion - 17 Comments/Pingbacks RSS feed for comments on this post
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I did, as I have used tablet pc’s for years, and have loved the experience. Handwriting recognition and OneNote have been my friends. However I’m not all that anxious for a Win7 device, but more for a WebOS device. I liked WebOS on the smartphone platform better than I did iPhone OS 3, and still like it more than iOS4. Dependent upon a few hardware necessities, I will be buying a WebOS device as soon as it hits the shelves, if not a preorder.
Now this is for home use. For the office, I’m not so sure. I’d have to see what tuning MS does to the OS to make it more efficient for the slate form factor before I can really chime in on whether I’d want one in the office or not.
Microsoft is inept.
It isn’t “tuning” its operating system for slates. Instead, it is turning the clock back and wedging its desktop OS into a slate. That’s what you call the old tried-and-failed tablet PC concept born again.
The iPad and Android slates are a new category of device. Every Android and iPad app was created for multitouch.
It is beyond belief that Microsoft has rejected its own Windows Phone 7 operating system (on the eve of its release) as unsuitable for use in portable multitouch devices.
Jury’s out on HP slate: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/21/hp-confirms-slate-alive-and-well-determining-next-steps-on-t/
Nope…don’t want a Win7 tablet. But don’t want an iPad either. Not a WebOS. Not an Android. But I am very interested in a Chrome OS tablet. I was really thinking about getting a Courier before, but that dream was killed by MS.
Ideal machine is a laptop with a stylus where you can pull off the screen and use as a slate, then reattach and use as a regular laptop.
If they were really going to come out “Full Guns” then Ballmer should have said something like “Surprise! The Kindle isn’t cancelled after all!”
Microsoft has quite a hill to climb due to the digital ecosystem that Apple already has in place for its iPad. The number of applications that are available for the iPad is well over 200,000 plus and growing. Unless Microsoft improve its ability to get a host of developers on board rather quick, “There’s an app for that,” will be written on the tombstone of its tablet before it reaches the point of market saturation to be deemed viable.
Like they went after the iPod with Zune…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
It only took 4 million unit sales by the iPad to convince Balmer to make that form factor?!?!
The iPad is a great device thanks to the OS which Microsoft isn’t going to have so it doesn’t really matter how cool their tablet is going to be.
Because we all watched how the iPod was crushed by the Zune, and the iPhone was obliterated by the updated WinMob. Oh, er, wait.
Ballmer, young people don’t LIKE your BRAND, and nothing is going to change that.
Your day in the sunny is now overcast, and I see storm clouds rolling in.
I love Apple. Their products are amazing. From their desktops, to their Macbooks, the iPad, iPod and and the amazing iPhone 4 they deserve all of their success. I am a proud iPad owner and a Macbook Pro owner and planning on getting the iPhone 4 within a month or so. I have never been disappointed with any of their products. I never came across the problem like other ppl say, and watching movies on the go with ifunia converter to iPad is really fun
Apple makes nice products for a niche group of people. It is a misstake to compare it with brands like Microsoft or Nokia. In numbers Apple does not come even close tot these brands. Apple is special and should stay special. The current popularity should be very concerning to Apple;
Apple has all the characteristics of a temporarily hype; reporting about the products is very subjective, Apple fans/sheeps are allergic for criticism; the products are overpriced vs the technology offered; the group of Apple fans is quite homogeneous. The Board of Apple (Steve) show arrogant behaviour. The new products, when launched, are late and show more and more often flaws.
There were and will always be Apple fans, the number will fluctuate dramatically. The current high will not last.
Ballmer was deliberately unspecific, but he did have this to say: “The operating system is called Windows.”
In other words it will be ran by, viruses, trojans, botnets, and who knows what else….