14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft and its OEM partners are expected to introduce anti-iPad slates running Windows 7 in 2011, or at least this can be inferred by the promises made by the Redmond company.
Despite being in the Tablet PC game for approximately a decade, the software giant appears to have lost the start of the slate race to its Cupertino-based rival.
While Apple is selling millions of iPads, Microsoft is still working to provide rival devices.
Fact is that the Redmond company might not be the sole to blame, with original equipment manufacturers sharing a big part of the responsibility for the missing Windows 7 slates offering consumers a valid alternative to the iPad.
According to a recent report by The NY Times, Microsoft is gearing up to demo new Windows 7 slates designed to compete with the iPad at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer will be delivering the opening keynote at CES, and he is expected to also offer a taste of upcoming Windows 7 Tablet PCs.
Ballmer previously indicated that the software giant and its OEM partners are waiting for Intel to ship its Oak Trail processors in order to provide the first true iPad competitors.
There is no confirmation of Microsoft’s plans for CES 2011 or for the coming year as far as its slate strategy is concerned.
Ballmer already promised that OEMs such as HP, Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba, and Sony are hard at work on Windows 7 slates.
Some Tablet PCs were indeed made available, but they all failed to make a dent in iPad’s domination on the slate market.
At CES 2010, Ballmer is also rumored to give a taste of a forthcoming slate that will sport Windows 8, Microsoft’s next iteration of the Windows client and the successor of Windows 7.
Again, this is nothing but speculation at this point in time. But I guess that the wait won’t be all that long, with CES 2011 scheduled to start on January 6th, 2011 in Las Vegas.