Microsoft Shows New HP Tablet – Slate PC (Video)

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer introduced a touch-screen tablet computer from Hewlett-Packard Co. and said U.S. sales of PCs running Windows jumped 50 percent over the holidays. Microsoft and HP have teamed up to introduce a slate computer ahead of Apple’s much rumoured device launch.

“We’re talking about something that’s almost as portable as a phone and that’s as powerful as a PC running Windows 7,” Steve Ballmer, said of the Hewlett-Packard tablet computer and two others he had on stage.

Microsoft has renewed its focus on tablet computers at a time when Apple Inc. (AAPL) may be poised to unveil its own model this month. Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, wants to highlight the touch-screen features of Windows 7, which went on sale in October.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has demonstrated what he called a “slate PC” being developed by Hewllet-Packard.

The HP device is also expected to go on sale later this year. “It’s a beautiful little product,” said Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer.

In his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Mr Ballmer showed several manufacturers computers that are operated by touching screens. Touch control is one of the features that Microsoft has promoted as being significantly improved in Windows 7 since the launch of the operating system’s predecessor, Vista.

The aim of the device is to bridge the gap between laptops and smartphones. This is not Microsoft’s first attempt to introduce a tablet or slate-like computer. Back in 2002, the company introduced a tablet PC version of Windows XP, which failed to take off. The form factor is around 10 years old.

Windows 7 replaced the much hated Windows Vista. Analysts however believe these new entries should give the middling $950m (£597m) US market for tablets a much needed jolt.

“Apple could do for the tablet market what it did for smartphones with the iPhone,” analyst David Daoud of IDC told USA Today. Other industry watchers fear that consumers might be a little wary with so many companies all rushing at once to bring out new devices.

“The biggest hit of the year was Windows 7,” said Mr Ballmer.

“Windows 7 is by far the fastest selling operating system in history.”

The software boss cited figures from the market analysis firm NPD that said that since the launch of Windows 7, sales of consumer PCs in the US over the latest holiday period were up more than 50% from the year before.

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