Thaindian News

October 6, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): The Slate tablets running on Windows Operating Systems are likely to be unveiled by Christmas this year, promised Michael Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft. It is quite apparent that the software giant is now focusing on its rivals, specifically the Android from Google, OS from Blackberry as well as Apple’s iOS.

Ballmer spoke at the London school of economics where he told the staff, students and journalists that the new slates with windows would be available during Christmas. He said that Microsoft has done the work around the slate which will be serving both as consumption as well as a productivity device.

The Slate tablets are reported to have Windows Embedded Compact 7 as its OS. The Windows phone device will also run on a specialized version of the same OS. This particular operating system was launched at the Computex just after HP announced that Windows 7 was not suitable for its tablets. Microsoft will now be directly competing against the web OS of HP Palm.

As we get to see the first slate table running on Windows Embedded Compact 7 by this year end, the market is expected to be awash with Google Android, Apple iOS and Blackberry OS loaded tablets as well. Hopefully the competition will help in lowering the price of a half way decent tablet with the necessary features along with the required configuration.

Microsoft had managed to capture 8.7% of the smartphone market via its new phone software last year which is expected to decline to almost half by the year 2014, so fierce is the competition. The numbers were released by Gartner.