Is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ready for the tablet market? The company’s chief executive officer Steve Ballmer must think so.
According to Microsoft’s Vice President Frank Shaw, Ballmer uses a touch-enabled tablet computer which hangs on his wall. Apparently, this tablet has replaced Ballmer’s phone and notepad. He also said that they plan on selling it in the near future. This report came from Shaw’s interview with Wired.co.uk on Friday morning.
Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the company introduced the eighty inch Microsoft Sharp Aquos Board Touchscreen but the tablet they’re planning to release is another one.
Microsoft has been making plans for the later release of their next software Windows 8 which is designed to run on personal computers, tablets, low-powered CPU computers, and traditional desktops. The thing about this computer is the fact that it won’t become immediately for consumers.
Shaw said that “Every screen should be touch, every screen should be a computer and should be able to see out as well as see in. That is the way the world is heading [and] those screens are going to be big, small, wall-sized and desk-sized.”
So far there has been no word on when or if this tablet will actually launch. Windows 8 will launch a consumer preview next month and will officially launch the end of the year.
A Microsoft tablet is an exciting prospect. I don’t know why it’s taking them so long to create their first tablet computer and I’ve got to admit that might work against them. Most tablet owners already own popular devices like iPads or Android-based devices like the Kindle Fire or Nook. If they want to woo current or future tablet owners, they’re going to have to create a revolutionary device with premium features. And that’s something that Microsoft isn’t known for.
