“Apple wasn’t the only speaking at Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, and Microsoft’s CFO Peter Klein tried to garner some attention by saying that Microsoft is ready, willing and able to launch a device similar to Apple’s iPad mini,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple. “But the talk ended there and melted into a fog of when they’d actually launch it.”
Purcher writes, “Back in 2012, CRN had [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer on record as saying that they’re ‘not going to let any piece of this go uncontested to Apple,’ shouted Ballmer. ‘Not the consumer cloud. Not hardware software innovation. We are not leaving any of that to Apple by itself. Not going to happen. Not on our watch.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
This is yet another excellent, original idea from Mr. Baller & Co.
If Microsoft isn’t hard at work transforming their Surface duds into mini flops and flushing even more R&D money down the toilet, they should be.
Don’t forget the kickstands and keyboards, dummies!
As always, we like their strategy. We like it a lot.
What kind of a mini uses a large M in it’s name?
Minnie Driver?
Minnie Ripperton?
Minnie Mouse?
Mini Me?
Mini Cooper?
Minnie Floppy (ancient readers of Infoworld in the 80s might remember her).
Minnie Pearl
Muppet?
Fits the picture somehow.
Microsoft starts with a capital M. It would be smart branding to use a capital M, especially if it were a corporate typeface.
a click-click here, a click-click there and a couple of la-de-dahs, that’t the way Ballmer T Clown spends his day in the merry, old land of Oz.
BRILLIANT…Bravo!
After all, Seattle IS The Emerald City!
BaldyBot thinks he’s a Wizard but in reality is only a flying monkey…
pay no attention to that sweaty, bald guy behind the curtain.
Ballmer behind a curtain? Drawing it aside would reveal not some lovable hot-air balloonist but rather some creep like used to hang out at those old adult bookstore video machines – slobbering, panting, rubbing off, making a mess.
oh, you mean like 313c7ro..
Wow! A Surface mini! Now we’re talking! This will blow the doors off! And it’s coming Real Soon Now! Get in line already! (I hope Stevey Ballmer appears at the launch! I so want his autograph!)
Already heard someone refer to the Surface Pro as the “Maxi-Pad”.
Not to worry, Ballmer will dance his monkey boy dance on stage in front of you, beer gut spilling over, sweat stained armpits, glistening sweaty forehead, shouting in a loud obnoxious voice, “Developers! Developers! Developer!”
Hopefully when the product launches MS will give away free Skrillex concert tickets.
Well, let’s see, with an attached keyboard and a kickstand, the name “Surface Mini” gives us a whole new, modern-day oxymoron. Also, I wonder if MS will find some way to make the “Surface Mini” squirt?
But Derek Currie said Microsoft won’t make a Surface mini! He was right about Apple not making an iPad mini so how could he be wrong here?
Microsloth borrowed an old saying to use as their R&D slogan: “If you throw enough shit at the wall, something’s bound to stick!”
One of my favorite photos MDN! And the “I don’t get it” look on Ballmers face is priceless.
I love it that Ballmer considers these days to be Microsoft’s “watch.” Like somehow they were anointed by the powers-that-be. That must be what happens when you have a monopoly. You start to think you deserve it.
Well, may he continue MS’s undisciplined grasping for “more” for as long as it takes!
Huh? The Surface is selling like ice to Eskimos and they are considering another product?? Think again bozos!
Mere mortals can’t make this stuff up. Someone at MS is a comic genius.
“Not on our watch”
On Watch?? Ballmer is asleep at the wheel. 😉
Who knew unmitigated crap came in different sizes? Golly, Microsoft really is innovating!
As long as it comes in brown
As long as Ballsucker gets more catholic girls in school uniforms and tall white sox to writhe around and dance like sluts they are sure to sell their mini copy. What terrible marketing.
The principal feature and main selling point of the Surface Mini is that the kick stand goes “snip” instead of “click”.
Don’t get your tallywhacker too close or you’ll feel the pain of a bris.
Ow!
It’s not a kick stand, it’s a heat sync!
They should glue 4 Zunes together for their mini. They probably still have the dead inventory.
If a MS tablet launches in an empty woods and nobody cares, does it really exist?
Philosophers and logicians say no. But you’d still hear the clicking in your mind. Dreadful.
It would be fun to see a fully powered Surface stuffed into a mini case, with a regular sized keyboard. Less space means smaller battery, unless they make it much thicker. Battery life in the regular surface is already poor.
Sell the Surface Mini case so we can put our iPad Mini in it. A no theft WIN. M$oft will make billions.
I saw this headline and I got a boner ! I’m going to BestBuy now and wait for it to arrive.
Monkey see, monkey doo doo.
SPEND Microsoft! SPEND, SPEND SPEND!
It’s like the Zune x 3. <3 <3 <3
So as to make APPLE copying complete, or more to come?
I guess they are following up with a Mini Surface Pro with a full-fledged Win 8 and Office likewise. That’ll be hilarious to see the win-tards fingering away on either a mini keyboard or a 9 inch display…
Microsoft can innovate on the surface. This is not news.
Ok, I’ll say it. I’d buy MS Office for my iPads. And I’d pay as much as $100 for it. I know I’m not alone either, although I would think they would charge a lot less for it.
The thing is…on my iPads, I don’t need a word processor or a spreadsheet. What I do have a use for is MS Word and MS Excel. Unfortunately, I have to swap files with others and Word and Numbers don’t really cut it.
Furthermore, I’d be willing to bet that not only does Microsoft release Office for iOS, but that it’s a fairly decent app. And that while it may like some things that the full version of Office has, I won’t miss those features and in some ways prefer the iOS to using Office on a Surface besides just the preference of the iPad itself.
Wonder why Samsung isn’t making an iPad mini copy?
Probably because Microsoft is still using the copy machine.