Microsoft Underwhelms Tablet Market

So CES has kicked off and kicking off the keynote for tonight was Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer. Ballmer was rumored to be announcing a tablet-like device from HP that would rival Apple’s rumored tablet. Needless to say Apple was surely watching very closely to see what Microsoft had to unveil. Needless to say, it was another underwhelming display of been there, done that. The tablet neither excited me nor did it seem to make a splash in the market as few sights thus far have jumped on the story as the next big thing.

Does this mean the tablets are useless?

Not at all, but right now the world is waiting, with much anticipation, the next creation from Apple. So much hype, speculation, rumors, and piqued interest are focused on this device that any chance that Microsoft thought they had to diffuse the bubble didn’t work. Now I’m not an Apple fan boy, but it’s hard to argue that Apple didn’t change the market when it introduced the iPod into the mp3 market, or the mobile phone industry when it introduced the iPhone. Can they do it again in the tablet market?

The announcement of this device reminds me of the tablet-like devices from a few years ago where the monitor just turned 360-degrees to flatten, much like a tablet. Sure the it was a laptop, and it was thicker, but this thinner version does not seem to offer anything more than the face that it’s…thinner.

Still, I’m surprised they didn’t speculate on pricing, either to wait and see what Apple does, or to sweep in and be the low cost alternative when Apple prices too high. Both of these strategies seem equally as viable.

Here’s a video teaser of the device, but notice at the end how the HP symbol appears. Is it just me or is that the “Apple pinch”? If so, didn’t the courts award a patent on the pinch?