Ballmer said that Microsoft was working with software partners such as HP, Lenovo, Asus, Dell and Toshiba to develop a tablet-style computer that could rival Apple’s hugely popular iPad.
“We have to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates,” Ballmer told financial analysts at a meeting at Microsoft’s headquarters in Seattle.
“It is job one urgency around here, nobody’s sleeping at the switch. We’ve got to push right now – right now – with our hardware partners. As soon as they’re ready, they’ll be shipping. We want to deliver products that people really want to buy.”
Ballmer said that he was impressed by the iPad, which had sold better than he would have liked.
“We think about that in a competitive sense. We’ve got to make things happen, just as we had to make things happen on netbooks,” he said. “We’re doing that as we speak, working with our hardware partners, tuning Windows 7 to new slate hardware designs.”
Ballmer’s comments come just weeks after Microsoft shelved plans for a flagship, dual-screen tablet-style computer called the Courier. A special team within the company had been working on the secret prototype, but Microsoft announced that it would not be continuing with the Courier project, saying that it was just one of many ideas it was investigating, and that it had “no plans” to build the device at that time.
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