Microsoft's Windows 8 is scheduled for launch later this year and we're fully prepared for manufacturers to start churning out Windows 8 tablets as soon as it does launch. However, rumor has it there is already at least one interesting Windows 8 device in the wild. Well, that is if you consider Steve Ballmer's office 'the wild.'
Microsoft Vice President Frank Shaw this morning told Wired UK that Steve Ballmer has traded in his phone and note pad in exchange for a big Windows 8 tablet. Like, a really big tablet.
"Steve Ballmer has an 80-inch Windows 8 tablet in his office," Shaw is quoted as saying. "He's got rid of his phone, he's got rid of his note paper. It's touch-enabled and it's hung on his wall."
If that sounds a bit out there to you, then brace yourself for this next part: Ballmer and the gang are planning to bring this massive 80-inch tablet to market. Similar to Microsoft Surface, the tablet isn't aimed at the general consumer. However, Shaw notes that may not mean much in the long run.
"It's not a consumer thing now, but we know historically that that's how all things start," he said, later adding, "Every screen should be touch, every screen should be a computer and should be able to see out as well as see in. That is the way the world is heading [and] those screens are going to be big, small, wall-sized and desk-sized."
Shaw provided little else in the way of details regarding Ballmer's big Windows 8 device, so we don't have any idea about what kind of hardware is powering the wall-tablet or when it will launch, but we're betting it won't be cheap when it does.
