Reports of the PC’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said at The Wall Street Journal’s eighth annual All Things Digital conference near Los Angeles on Thursday. His comment came one day after Apple CEO Steve Jobs predicted that tablets like Apple’s iPad will ultimately relegate desktop and laptop PCs to secondary use.
“I think people are going to be using PCs in greater and greater numbers for many years to come,” the Journal quoted Ballmer as saying.
The Microsoft CEO argued that tablets are essentially the next stage in the PC’s evolution, and thus inseparable from that classification of device, noting that while the devices might be different in terms of appearance and components, they appeal to the same market.
But Ballmer conceded that Microsoft has “a lot of work to do” to catch up with the iPad, whose sales have topped two million in the first two months on the market.
Microsoft beat Apple to the tablet market by a few weeks in January, displaying at CES three of what Ballmer called slate tablets from Hewlett-Packard, ARCHOS and Pegatron that were basically small computers running Windows 7. “Our OEM partners are doing great work with some slate PCs that will be rolling into the market late this year,” Ballmer said then, adding that “the emerging category of PCs really should take advantage of the touch, mobility and capability of Windows 7.”
But those devices bored reviewers and haven’t generated anything close to the excitement Apple has achieved with the iPad. And Hewlett-Packard has reportedly dropped Windows 7 from its upcoming tablet and may be planning to use webOS, which it acquired when it recently bought Palm.
Still, Ballmer insisted Microsoft will be competitive in the tablet field with Windows installed on more devices — though…