Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Confirms: Windows 7 Slates Coming This Year

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It looks like Windows 7 fans will be getting a few slate/tablets this year after all. The news is coming by way of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer who confirmed that devices will be launched by Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony. All of which are expected to arrive this year.

The message came out of the Worldwide Partner Conference and interestingly enough Ballmer made no mention of anything coming from HP. Of course, HP is planning to roll out a webOS based tablet later this year, so maybe that has put the hold on, or pulled the plug on anything Windows 7 related.

Unfortunately, despite the mention of five company names, there were no specific details given about what we can expect in terms of features. The brief summary from Ballmer included that the devices would come in with several price points and several form factors. Additionally, it was mentioned that some would be able to handle digital ink, some would be dockable, some would be touch only and some would sport keyboards. Like I said, pretty generic.

But with that, we have to remember that we have already seen some early variations of these models, such as the Eee Pad from Asus which was shown off during Computex as well as the Libretto W100 from Toshiba. Nonetheless, we cannot help but be more than slightly curious to see what Sony, Dell and Samsung have planned.

And with that, its Monday and we have plenty of time this week to sit back and wait for some more information to come from Microsoft. That said, they are expected to show off some early prototypes shortly. Other than that, its likely that CES 2011 (in January 2011) will have more than its share of Windws 7 based tablets/slates on display. But really, who wants to wait until January? Not me.