NYT: Microsoft to beat Apple to tablet announcement tonight?

According to the NY Times, a top executive at a major tech company named Steve will be presenting a new tablet to the public. You might have thought that you knew all about this story except that the Steve in question is Steve Ballmer and the company he is CEO of is Microsoft. According to no less a prestigious media source than the N.Y. Times, Ballmer is expected to introduce a Microsoft tablet to the public during his evening keynote speech at the CES in Las Vegas tonight. According to the sources at the Times, the slate is produced by Hewlett Packard and will be launched around mid-year. The device will be marketed as a e-reader, and a multimedia whiz with multi-touch capabilities. For the last few weeks, all speculation about such a product centered on Apple. The Cupertino based company is expected to introduce its Tablet, possibly named iSlate, on January 27th by Steve Jobs in San Francisco. Whether or not Microsoft will be able to steal the thunder from Apple remains to be seen. But starting tonight until the 27th of this month, Microsoft could have the lion's share of the attention.

source: NYTimes