“New tablet or slate devices — small, hand-held, wireless computers — running Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system are in the pipeline from Acer Inc., Dell Inc., Samsung Electronics Co Ltd., Toshiba Corp., Sony Corp. and several other PC makers, Ballmer said at the company’s annual partner conference in Washington, D.C.,” Rigby reports. “‘This year, one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates,’ said Ballmer. ‘This is a terribly important area for us.'”
Rigby reports, “Apple’s iPad, launched in April, has already sold more than 2 million units worldwide, and threatens to take customers away from Microsoft-dominated desktop computing.”
MacDailyNews Take: Make that 3 million sold in 80 days and counting, Bill.
Ever notice how the media’s “mistakes” in Apple numbers almost always severely undercount? In fact, we’d be hard pressed to come up with an example where some “reporter” actually vastly overstated Apple numbers by “mistake.”
Oh, yeah: May Microsoft shareholders remain catatonic so that Steve Ballmer can stay CEO for as long as it takes!
Full article here.
“smart device” and “Windows 7” is an oxymoron. With the emphasis on moron.
Gotta love it: All these marvelous, revolutionary, mind-blowing devices are (wait for it) . . . “in the pipeline”! Yeah, and so is all the stinking effluent from his Redmond office.
Each and every one of these little iPad killers is (again, wait for it) . . . V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E! Got it? How’s that “Courier” thing working out for you, Stevie? Got Pink? Kin? Zune? Slate?
Gawd, when will the media ever, EVER learn?
Funny how this was not a “terribly important area” for MS until apple started figured it out and started winning in it. Same old MS story.
Bring on another Kin. Just what I want a virus spreading slate that uses some fake pen.
Have we ever received a balance review of anything from reporter or neepapers? They all have their “special” interest and the money flows as their words are molded to fit the total sum in the media’s pocket.
Undercount or over count, truth is Apple is sweating everybody- even the papers!
MS just thinks that if Apple makes something a success then they can do the same… unfortunately for them.. over many years they haven’t learned from repeated failure.
Another case of Monkey(ballmer) see..Monkey do
Brilliant, I am all for Ballmer and his crazy idea that he is somehow going to upend the iPad with loads of shitty manufacturers flooding the market with crappy slate PCs.
If anything, it will further cement Apple’s dominance of the tablet market.
Ballmer forever!
I love the quote from this site:
http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-ballmer-says-we-are-hardcore-about-tablet-computing-2010-7?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider+(Silicon+Alley+Insider)
“Steve Ballmer Says Microsoft Is “Hardcore” About Tablet Computing”.
The only thing “hardcore” about a Windows slate is what people will be watching on it- because that’s just about all they will be good for.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
They’ve had 80 days to take the iPad apart and copy each part…I bet every tablet from each manufacturer will look like the iPad, just like the iPhone copies do. Didn’t Bill Gates push the tablet years earlier??? Why, yet again, did Apple have to give them something to copy before theirs could take off?
Man, are they late to the party again…at least RIMM’s looks a little unique and signature of Blackberry, but they are late, too.
Android may have a small amount of pee pee in the engines of their clones and OS, but they are at least not late enough to have some impact and eventually clean things up.
Apple is such a role model…the best product eventually wins. I long for the day when my kids have kids and my grandson asks me…”Who is Micro$oft”??
@MacMan
They should sell them with screen whipes….
@iStepchild
I long for the day when Ballmer goes down in history as a man who sunk a multibillion dollar corporation
What Ballmer meant to say was…
“This is a terrifyingly important area for us.”
This is so deja zune… but come on, MS has the lead in slate devices with their big a$$ table. All they really need is to put some straps on it so you can carry it on your back.
I can just see Ballmer running around like a monkey on stage with one strapped onto his back yelling out “Hernia, hernia hernia.”
Do you think that Steve Ballmer thinks that “in the pipeline” is a real plumbing situation and he is down in the basement tapping on the pipes to see if they are close yet? Is he ready to call Roto-Rooter to flush them out sooner?
I think he should consider being a clown in the circus for his next gig after Microsoft finishes their crash and burn tactics.
You all did see that HP is not in that iPad killer Windows 7 list? That would be the one Steve Ballmer danced around with I believe earlier this year.
I recall reading an article right here at MDN about two years ago about how if Microsoft wanted to compete in the future mobile computing arena, it needed to find ways to scale down Windows to have different versions that work on different devices. Turns out, Apple has done exactly that. Now, how on earth is M$oft going to fit Windows 7 on a tablet device and make it viable? Device makers are opting for Android or purchasing their own OS, as HP did. OS X and its “minime” homuncular iOS versions have proven to be unbeatable resources for Apple.
Plays For Sure Redux.
No Road Warrior (nli). Right before the call 911, he will be screaming for app “developers”, app “developers”, app “developers”, (deodorant), app “developers”, … (My kingdom for a dry shirt!), app “developers”, …
Maybe he will start wearing a black turtle neck. Not because the real Steve wears them. Just to hide the sweat.
Here’s an interesting site to visit for a peek into the world of MS:
http://minimsft.blogspot.com/
Noticed all the IE8 ads on TV lately, touting how IE8 safe and secure it is? Compared to what? IE7?
Why do they always have to “counter”
Why not invent something totally new and different?
Every time Apple or other company comes out with something, M$ has to create something similar to counter the product.
Is this what M$ calls innovation?
“‘This year, one of the most important things that we will do in the smart device category is really push forward with Windows 7-based slates,’ said Ballmer. ‘This is a terribly important area for us.'”
After years of apathy, it has become important to M$ because Apple has made it a successful and profitable niche. The problem is, M$ will be no more successful in copying its way into this area of mobile electronics than it was with the iPod or iPhone.
Sorry, Ballmer. Tablets are for innovators. M$ gave up on meaningful innovation a long time ago in favor of buy and assimilate or buy and extinguish.
http://twitpic.com/24nqbv
That’s the image of the slide from Ballmer’s talk about Slates and WinPhone coming this year.
Microsoft: Always announcing. Occasionally releasing.
Apple: Never announcing until releasing.
I believe these manufactures are developing tablets that mimic the iPad. It will be interesting to see what software is running on them.
The only people who love Ballmer more than the the MS Fans are the Apple Fans.
Cheers to Ballmer’s reign as CEO!!
typo fixed:
“This is a terribly impotent area for us.”
@Arnold Ziffel
Yea. I saw that too.
http://themacadvocate.com/2010/07/07/no-one-destroys-value-like-microsoft/
This is a situation where Apple is SO much better suited to come up with a winner than any combo of OS-maker plus hardware-maker. The iPad is not the first out of the gate, nor the least expensive, just the best interpretation of what the consumer wants. Without all that stuff from some OS designed in the last century.
However … “Apple’s iPad, launched in April, has already sold more than 2 million units worldwide, and threatens to take customers away from Microsoft-dominated desktop computing.” … deserves some comments. He could have said “more than three units” and still have been correct. Using the “more than” construction makes it accurate – if potentially misleading. That said, sales of the iPad are unlikely to take many, if any, customers away from any part of the desktop market. The iPad drawing loyal Microsoft customers into the Apple Store to be exposed to that content, that could draw down the MSFT share of the market. Using, becoming comfortable with, an iOS device, that could do the same. Apple could stop selling iPads tomorrow and the damage would have been done. It’s the familiarity that does the damage, not the purchase.
Microsoft: Putting the terrible back in important!
Microsoft came out with the Zune of an iPod and it got no where. Next it came out with the Kin of an iPhone and it got killed within 3 months. Now it will introduce another Zune-like device of an iPad and how long it will survive only God knows.
so how are these tablets going to be different than the ones they’ve been trying (and failing) to sell prior to the iPad?
But it doent´t have a keyboard either…
Do you still like your strategy Ballmer?
Will this fool ever learn? He’s still trying to ship Windows 7 onto tablets. I read the title and thought: Maybe Ballmer finally discovered the importance of specialized tablets with OSes optimized for them.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Then again, Windows Vista shows that it is possible to achieve different results by doing exactly the same thing.
Balmer has got to be Jobs’s most innovative product. A one-off device that has really padded the Apple bottom line. Maybe he’ll make another one to run Google.
We all sound giddy about this but it is business, not sports. We trash talk MS, but this announcement does help MS stockholders–just today MS market cap has closed the gap with AAPL by more than 10 billion and may well put MS ahead by months end. The bigger Apple has gotten, the more haters it has created. We fanboys can crow all we want, there are still many more MS users by far. And that is a lot of companies interested in joining the slate game.
…explosion of interest in Apple Inc’s iPad?
From who? The 2 or 3 remaining MAC sheep left still holding onto hope MAC will ship a 2-button mouse? Nobody I know cares or has even heard of an I-Pad. The IT guys at work can’t wait to start testing bold and innovative Windows 7-based tablets and Office Ultimate Tablet Edition for Business and Exchange Live Tablet Edition for Business. MAC will never know what hit them.
Your potential. Our passion.™
MS is so embarrassing. It’s like they’re the father of the bride and show up at a wedding promising everyone that she’s on her way, she’s just getting ready, and no one has the balls to say, “Where the f*ck is your part of the bargain?!”
I _love_ the battery life on my iPad, and if that means no Flash, camera, or floppy drive, I’m okay w/ that. But the only way PC-makers can differentiate themselves from Apple and each other is by adding these things, so it’s a no-win situation for them.
If their tablets and slates are running full Windows, there’s no need for a store, but there is need for anti-virus software, which will, again, totally drain their batteries. How do you Ctrl-Alt-Delete w/ a software keyboard?
MS has no way of reigning in expectations — PC users will want to do everything they can on a laptop on it, and then will piss and moan that they can’t. Where’ the Bluray drive? Where’s the Parallel port? Long live Ballmer!
Who’d have thought that Microsoft would promise something wonderful in the future in the hope that you wouldn’t buy today’s successful product ? There must be an ever dwindling supply of gullible fools who can fall for that routine.
It will be interesting to see just how well their offering stacks up. The iPad’s combination of battery life, speed of operation, security, ease of operation and wide choice of apps is a formidable act to match. To match that and at a similar price point seems impossible unless manufacturers are prepared to make a loss.
Are there really that many companies willing to throw money down the drain ? They’ve seen how netbooks don’t make much money, do they not see where they are heading ?
Just pathetic…! Yet another crash to come…
Hey! Zune Tang! You’re back? How is your ongoing daydream (or daywindowshorrortrip) doing so far?
Is your Zune synched with your knew Kin?
@Almux…unfortunately he is back. Perhaps if we ignore him, he will crawl back to where he came from…. to paraphrase this article, the land of little importance.
Sorry, Winblows 7 on a Slate??
What battery are they going to strap to the back of it so it runs for 3 hours?
Oh that’s right, it will be like the portable computer that is sold that really needs to be plugged into an outlet to be useful.
Need one really speculate on the likely result of running Windows 7 on a tablet-sized device? Absent some magical evolution in the efficiency of Microsoft software design or manufacturers’ respective hardware designs, it will no doubt yield a molasses-slow experience with a short-life battery that is drained faster than a canteen by a thirsty Bedouin in the middle of the desert.
At any rate, whatever second-rate product Microsoft eventually comes up with with respect to slate devices will be undone by its mind-boggling failure to have developed a viable portable OS by this point. Trying to push Windows 7 — a bloated OS that needs serious hardware to run even remotely efficiently — into a slate device is like trying to shovel a ton of elephant dung into a backpack — it won’t work, no matter how hard you try to make it fit.
So, Microsoft will release its mediocre offerings to an inevitably tepid reception, and then Apple will outdo it even further with the second generation of the iPad.
Oh boy, a great big fat Intel-Acer/Dell tablet running Windows, complete with Flash! Bet they throw in a free stylus.
Can I have an attached keyboard, three back-up batteries, and a floppy drive to go with that?
Honestly if there is an area for them to “try earnestly” to get in…. It will be the slate/iPad arena. Laptop…phones…fughettaboutit! I have aaaaallllll the following. iPad, MBP, iPhone 4. But I think the iPad needs some work. They’ve sold so much it may be pointless. But it’s got the most room for improvement. So if I had to hang onto a branch before I went off the cliff it would be the slow Internet browsing IPAD.
They’ve gotta try somewhere.
Let’s see – Apple spent years developing iOS and the iPad, even releasing the iPhone years before the iPad, and these commodity assemblers think they’re going to just slap some parts together, install Windows 7, and they’re off to the races?
Wow, can’t wait to see the battery life comparos when these ugly beasts come out.
Windows 7 Phone is the name of Microsoft’s new phone OS.
Windows 7 Phone for Slate is the likely name for the new slate OS.
Even Microsoft isn’t stupid enough to put Windows 7 Home Deluxe on it’s iPad Killers, are they?
I don’t like coming off as an Apple fanboi/zealot/etc… But there is NO way that Windows 7 tablets will compete with the iPad. iOS is made for touch input, Win7 is for keyboards and mice. Shoehorning touch input onto a desktop OS does not give you a tablet OS. If MS actually tried to make a REAL touch OS it could potentially be interesting… But this? This is lame.
The “touch augmented” windows that failed on tablets for the last 10 years and then failed on desktops (the HP & sony “touch” imac clones that inspired users to coin the term “gorilla arm”)
is now coming back to tablets. How nice, I bet it will work well for them. (not!)
On second thought, they will no doubt will sell a few to the rabid apple haters out there. Hell they even found suckers to buy zunes and the dell “ditty” music players
The worst thing Microsoft can do is let these Windows 7 “slates” come out. Such devices will have to run low-powered hardware like a netbook. Have you ever seen Windows 7 on a netbook? Horrible. And that’s before you get into the poor UI, touch design, etc. If you’re rooting against MS, then wish for more and more of these offerings to hit store shelves.
Another round of bad imitations from Apple’s would-be competitors. How exciting!
Isn’t every venture they try “terribly important” to them? Like retail, phones, etc.
said Ballmer. ‘This is a terribly important area for us.'”…..he is describing every product that they ship….terrible….except for that big ass table……now that is an awesome product, I just wish that I could carry it to the ball field or to work every day!!
Bring it, Ballmer…
It will merely illustrate to the world what an abject FAILURE Microsoft is at developing original, stable OS’s.
Please… in the name of all that’s good and pure in the world, release a ‘tablet OS’.
Make my decade.
“… For as long as it takes, to do what?
To Bankrupt the company?
To Run the company into irrelevance?
To Etc.,?
Great to see you back!
Funnier than ever!
Absolutely hilarious!!!
Thanks.
“terribly important”
Well. This will certainly be interesting. Sound like Microsodt will be really pushing this. The problem all other tablets have is the start up time. A tablet has to be instant ON like an iPad thanks to a light OS like iOS. A tablet Thad has to be booted up will not stand a chanse.