Instead, Ballmer chose to highlight the three tablets running the touch-enabled Windows 7, built by Pegatron, media player maker Archos and Hewlett-Packard Co. HP will bring out its touch-enabled computer this year, although no specifics were made available. And HP will install Bing as the default search engine on HP computers for 42 countries. Bing has added 11 million new users since June, Ballmer boasted. “These are almost as portable as a phone but running Windows 7,” he added.
Also part of the keynote address, Microsoft’s entertainment and devices president, Robbie Bach, told the audience of over 5,000 inside the Las Vegas Hilton that Project Natal will be made available for Xbox this fall. Natal is a wireless gesture-based gaming controller for the ever-popular Xbox games.
Ballmer delivered some gaudy numbers on Xbox that stunned the standing-room only crowd. He said the brand has sold more than 500 million software units since its inception and has generated more than $20 billion in revenue. The Xbox 360 alone has sold more than 39 million units worldwide.
But the device that everyone whispered about in the long lines to get into the keynote address was the Courier tablet. The Courier, a dual-screen concept that was unveiled by Microsoft last September, is supposed to be the answer to Apple Inc.’s tablet computer. But there are some distinct differences. The Apple tablet is going to be similar to the Amazon Kindle e-reader, except it will be bolstered with multimedia capabilities. The Microsoft Courier tablet is also a dual-screener that will operate more like an electronic day planner, media reports say.
Because of Windows 7, Ballmer said retailers sold 63 percent more PCs on Black Friday 2009 as compared to the previous year. Windows PC sales were up 50 percent higher than 2008, according to NDP Group. Part of the credit for those numbers is the fact that Windows 7 has 800,000 new applications and 240,000 new peripherals. “The Microsoft preview of the Windows Mobile 7 operating system will take place at the Mobile World Congress in February,” said Ballmer.
–terry shropshire
