Microsoft May Have Arrived Late in Tablet Market, Admits CEO
Ballmer expressed confidence in Surface's chances.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has admitted during a shareholder meeting that the company may have arrived too late to the tablet market, but he remains confident in Surface's potential.
The Windows 8-powered Surface tablet is the first personal computer created by Microsoft, but it launched a month ago, more than two and a half years after Apple released its original iPad. Android-powered tablets have also dominated the market in recent months.
During the meeting in question, Ballmer was asked why Microsoft had fallen so far behind Apple.
"We're innovating on the seam between software and hardware... Maybe we should have done that earlier," he said, noting that he felt "pretty good about [Microsoft's] level of innovation".
The executive also discussed a "sea of upside" for the company in the tablet market. He was referring to the fact that while Windows 7 did offer several touch-friendly features which attracted vendors to create tablets based on the OS, it didn't make its mark in the market itself.
Surface's exact sales figures has yet to be revealed by Microsoft, but the software titan stressed it'll be supporting the device for four more years.
The device's pre-order stages, meanwhile, did showcase its potential commercial breadth. Inventory for every variant of the tablet sold out following the cheapest version selling out in a day after pre-sales commenced.

I never understood why its CEOs who talk at shereholders meetings. Im quite sure Balmer does not know 5% of the stuff your regular Microsoft porgramer can tell you about Win 8.
Then again that would be journalistic practise to present such an article so I don't expect much.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_for_Pen_Computing
1991 - for a start then there was the failed attempt at
'Windows for Pen Computing was a software suite for Windows 3.1x, that Microsoft designed to incorporate pen computing capabilities into the Windows operating environment. Windows for Pen Computing was the second major pen computing platform for x86 tablet PCs; GO Corporation released their operating system, PenPoint OS, shortly before Microsoft published Windows for Pen Computing 1.0 in 1991.[1][2]'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_editions
look at the Tablet PC Edition of XP
May have? MAY HAVE? /facepalm
Is it superior? I own both an iPad (newest gen.) and Surface. I love them both, but you simply can't say one is far better, it's based on preference.
Is that just me?
Microsoft was caught by surprise by Apple and Google. These companies showed them that the mobile experience and tablet experience could be so much more than using a stylus to poke at a brick that goes in your pocket. They showed us that the user experience is paramount to getting tons of consumer excitement and support. Microsoft fell behind in very much the same manner RIM has. Ballmer is just trying to spin his way out of being caught asleep at the wheel.
Agreed! What is with all the pro tablets getting pushed back to sometime Q1 next year? They're ridiculously hard to find.
I once tried to gently explain to someone--who used the word unironically--that saying "sheeple" would weaken her credibility and distract from whatever point she was trying to make. Unfortunately, I don't think I got through to her...
It all started with the iPod. A mere MP3 player! If it weren't for that, Apple wouldn't even be relevant right now! The iPod saved Apple from bankruptcy! Apple built off of that.
iPod touch + cell phone = iPhone.
iPod touch + growth hormone = iPad.
As for Microsoft, they weren't late to the tablet market. They've had tablets in the past, but they sucked at them. Now they're trying to copy Apple and are desperately trying to figure out just what is making Apple successful. Again, it's building off an already successful product.
Maybe they're trying to do that with Windows--building off of Windows to make their phone and tablet efforts successful. The problem? Apple didn't go back and change the iPod drastically to make the iPhone and iPad successful. Microsoft drastically changed Windows (8, RT) to fit their phone and tablet efforts, and it's not working all that well.
Then again, Windows as-is (i.e.: XP, 7) doesn't seem like a winning formula for tablets and phones either. Otherwise their previous efforts would have been successful (i.e.: Windows Mobile).
So really, the problem would be more than not having a base product that would be friendly to mobile devices...Microsoft is desperate. They're throwing things at the wall at this point, trying to see what sticks.