Although I say tablets, Steve Ballmer says slates:

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. This is a terribly important area for us.

The slates will come in a variety of form factors: some slates will have keyboards, others will be touch only, dockable, able to handle digital ink, etc. That means the slates will also be offered at different price points.

Oe manufacturer is missing from the list: HP. The planned to release a HP Slate, demonstrated last January at the CES 2010 keynote from Ballmer. But HP has bought Palm and webOS and is now planning to develop and release tablets and other devices based on webOS.

Microsoft has build a prototype webcam. The Microsoft Webcam can be plugged into the iPad dock connector. Video is displayed through VGA with a 640×480 resolution. The production model should be a lot smaller then the one displayed in the picture of this article. There’s only one obstacle here: Apple. They need to approve an app that works with the webcam. So you can either use the webcam via the official ways or via a jailbreak.

Source: Pocket-Lint

“I predict it will be a huge success. It will cause the same kind of mayhem among TabletPC and eBook manufacturers that the iPod and iPhone did in their respective market categories.”

Hill went from Windows to MacOS X. He doesn’t like Android, has a MacBook Pro and even his wife started working on an Apple product with the iMac. Even though it seems a little bit too amazing, Hill’s reaction on the low ppi of the iPad is something more people could have troubles with. He has some doubts about Apple’s ClearType. The iPhone has 163 ppi and the iPod nano has even 204 ppi. The iPad has only 132 ppi. Small fonts are displayed unsharp. The iPad is designed for the e-book market so it should display text in an appropriate manner.

We’ll see how things work out when the iPad is launched.

“Apple’s PR department must still have sore hands since the launch, from high-fiving each other. When was the last time the launch of a new computer made the front page of all the major newspapers – with a huge color photograph? (Answer: Never!)”

Source: Bill Hill’s Blog

It seems Microsoft is looking into the possibilities of an enhanced version of Office for the iPad. Mike Tedesco, Senior Product Manager of Microsoft, said he won’t be doing an official announcement, but the company is definitely looking at ways to make it possible for Office to run on the iPad.

“Yeah, it’s something that we’re looking at,” said Microsoft’s Mike Tedesco, who is the Senior Product Manager for WindowsBU. “Obviously the announcement (of the iPad) is really fresh and there’s nothing to announce or nothing that I can talk to you about today.”

The thing is, if Microsoft decides to bring Office to the iPad, will it be in time? And what is the price? Apple has made a very good offer with their applications at just below 10 dollars each. Can Microsoft top that, or at least be near that price? At least it sounds more positive than Bill Gates.

The hardware runs Windows 7, Microsoft’s latest operating system. Steve Ballmer presented the audience with a few touchscreen devices with HP being the “biggest” in terms of the brand name. The short demo showed that the tablet will be equipped with the Kindle-software from Amazon to make it possible to read books.

It’s unknown what the price of the device will be and when the ‘slate’ will be available on the market. It also remains unclear if Microsoft will release the Courier soon. There was no word about the device at the demonstration. The very short ad (17 seconds) below shows a glimpse of the HP device:

“On Wednesday, Mr. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, will unveil a novel take on a slate-type computer during his evening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, according to people familiar with Microsoft’s plans. The slate will be made by Hewlett-Packard and possibly available by mid-year, these people said.”

The tablet will be introduced as a multimedia device with e-reader and multi-touch functionality. Some time ago I already posted about the ‘Courier‘, but it’s not clear if that’s the device Microsoft is going to introduce today.

It seems that Ballmer’s tablet device has similar functionality to that of Apple’s device. Previous rumors, here, here and here, are claiming that Apple will introduce their own tablet computer this month as well and launch the device in March. And another report confirmes Apple does indeed has plans for a January introduction and a launch in March.

The device can be carried as a booklet. When it is opened, you face two 7-inch touchscreens. You control the device with touch but also a pen (that might sound bad, but judging the video it works very smooth). It is a very different design than Microsoft’s previous Tablet PC’s that worked on XP and Vista.

 “Until recently, it was a skunkworks project deep inside Microsoft, only known to the few engineers and executives working on it—Microsoft’s brightest, like Entertainment & Devices tech chief and user-experience wizard J. Allard, who’s spearheading the project. Currently, Courier appears to be at a stage where Microsoft is developing the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies.”

Click on the images below for a larger version:
 

Further information revels the device will include Wi-Fi capabilities, an iPhone-like home button, a camera, and perhaps an inductive charging pad like the Touchstone available for the Palm Pre.

Can this beat Apple? I must say it looks very very good. If the price is affordable and if the device will be available soon, would you pick this one up instead of the (still rumored) Apple tablet computer? Let me know what you think.

Source: Gizmodo (for more pictures and a video)

ZD Net’s Mary-Jo Foley said she has received several tips that the Windows Maker is working on a tablet device of their own. It is part of something known as “Alchemy Ventures”. Foley said she finds it likely Microsoft will wait to show off the hardware until after Apple reveals their own much rumored tablet device.

“No word on whether Microsoft will field a Microsoft-branded Surface/Tablet combo or rely on one or more hardware partners to produce multiple designs.”

Most recent rumors suggest Apple is working on a 9,6″ touch device with a launch date of somewhere in early 2010. Foley continued by pointing out that Microsoft is a software and services company, not a hardware company. They most likely return to those things after at least one more Zune. There’s also a part about “Pink”. Codename for Microsoft’s iPhone competitor. The device is probably going to run Windows Mobile 7. The new Windows Mobile edition is going to launch late 2010, but Microsoft will most likely show off “Pink”  at the Consumer Electronics show in January.

What do you think about these developments? I think it is a good thing, because this might speed things up a little. Apple wants to be revolutionary with every new product they put on the market. And since the rumors about a possible iTablet started spreading in 2002, with 2009 being the busiest year when it comes to iTablet rumors and Steve Jobs back at his throne, the chance to see a iTablet soon is very high. With competitors like Microsoft, we will most likely see other big companies to build their own tablet computer as well. That will quickly drop prices and then we no longer have a desktop or laptop age, but a tablet computer age.

Give your opinion. What do you think about these developments?