Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer Admits To Success of Apple iPad

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It looks like Steve Ballmer has been caught slightly off guard with more talk of what Microsoft is going to do in response to the current success of the iPad. And while this all sounds strangely familiar, especially given he confirmed earlier in the month that Windows 7 slates were coming, he appeared to speak rather openly. But perhaps more important, in true Ballmer fashion he gave statements that resulted in some good quotes.

To begin with, Ballmer admitted to the success of the iPad stating that “they’ve sold certainly more than I’d like them to sell, let me just be clear about that.” No real surprise on that front, but he did go slightly on the defensive, following up that they (Microsoft) have “got to make things happen.” Again, no real surprise there.

Interestingly enough, he took a nice spin on the outlook by comparing the current success of the iPad to the early success of Linux on netbooks. And if anyone remembers the early days of the netbook – it was dominated by Linux. Of course, they are for the most part shipping with Windows at this point.

“Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we’ve got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates, and we’re in the process of doing that as we speak.”

But perhaps my favorite came in when Ballmer stated that if Microsoft was not able to “compete against whatever the weird collection of android machines is going to look like, shame on us.” I have to agree there, so far the Android tablet market has been a collection of not so nice devices. But rest assured Microsoft fans, it seems as if they are working on bringing tablets and slates to market. Well more specifically, they are working with their hardware partners to do just that.

And in closing, Ballmer made it clear that;

“It is job one urgency. No one is sleeping at the switch.”

In the end though, it would be hard to argue that Microsoft is not behind the curve on the tablet front, but that is not to say they cannot make a big comeback. Personally I love my iPad, but at the same time I would be lying if I were to say that I was not interested in a Windows offering.