Speaking to an audience at the London School of Economics, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer told students and journalists to expect to see Slate gadgets running Windows software by Christmas, but did not reveal whether any would be on sale by then, or from whom. "You'll see new slates with Windows on them. You'll see them this Christmas," he said. The Redmond-based software giant has been very slow to respond to Apple's iPad tablet.
"Certainly we have done work around the tablet as both a productivity device and a consumption device," Ballmer said. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Ballmer had shown off one Hewlett-Packard tablet running Windows software, but very little has been heard about the device since HP agreed to buy Palm. It said later that it will develop a crop of new devices running Palm software, but will also offer Windows devices.
Gartner Research expects 10 million tablet PCs to be sold this year. Apple's iPad sold 3.3 million units in its first quarter on the market, and devices such as Dell's Streak and Asustek's Eee Pad are out to lure customers as tablets become more popular.
"The job right now is we've got to get back seriously into the game of phones," Ballmer said. The CEO missed out on his maximum bonus for the last fiscal year due to mistakes on phones and tablets, even though the company had its highest ever overall sales.
Microsoft's Windows phone software claimed 8.7 percent of the market last year, but Gartner expects it to decline to 3.9 percent by 2014. Windows Phone 7 is due to launch later this month, after being unveiled a year later than expected.
"We've got to have a comeback against the competition and I think with our new Windows phones we really have a beautiful product," Ballmer said. Back in July, Microsoft ditched a feature phone aimed at teenagers having been on the market for just three months.
Gartner Research expects 10 million tablet PCs to be sold this year. Apple's iPad sold 3.3 million units in its first quarter on the market, and devices such as Dell's Streak and Asustek's Eee Pad are out to lure customers as tablets become more popular.
"The job right now is we've got to get back seriously into the game of phones," Ballmer said. The CEO missed out on his maximum bonus for the last fiscal year due to mistakes on phones and tablets, even though the company had its highest ever overall sales.
Microsoft's Windows phone software claimed 8.7 percent of the market last year, but Gartner expects it to decline to 3.9 percent by 2014. Windows Phone 7 is due to launch later this month, after being unveiled a year later than expected.
"We've got to have a comeback against the competition and I think with our new Windows phones we really have a beautiful product," Ballmer said. Back in July, Microsoft ditched a feature phone aimed at teenagers having been on the market for just three months.
