Get ready, Apple. Microsoft is planning to release several possible iPad killers at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January.
According to a report in Monday’s New York Times, the Redmond, Wash.-based technology giant will announce “a slew of new slates” at the big event in Las Vegas. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is expected to make the announcement during his keynote address, highlighting devices built by Samsung, Dell and other partners.
HTML5, Windows 8
The Times quoted unnamed sources who said they were “not authorized to speak publicly by Microsoft or partnering companies.” Microsoft has not commented.
The Samsung offering is similar in size and shape to the iPad, the Times said, but a bit thicker and includes a slide-out keyboard. The tablets will run a version of Windows 7 when held in landscape view, it said, but a “layered interface” will be shown when the keyboard is tucked away and the tablet is in portrait mode.
Microsoft is reportedly encouraging its partners to build applications using HTML5 technologies. The apps will be sold in the partners’ online stores and accessible through the tablet. And, as might be expected, the tablets will emphasize the ability to get work done through Microsoft Office productivity apps.
The Times also cited a report that Ballmer might demonstrate a tablet or other devices running a version of the next Microsoft operating system, Windows 8.
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has been talking about tablet computers for at least a decade, and Ballmer showed a Windows-based Hewlett-Packard tablet at last year’s CES. There has even been a concept video released of a purported Microsoft two-screen tablet, which never emerged, and the company has fallen behind in the tablet category.
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