Microsoft preparing new tablets for CES

Microsoft is planning to show off new tablet computers from Dell and Samsung at this year's CES expo in Las Vegas, according to the New York Times.

Steve Ballmer will use his keynote address to the conference to unveil the new hardware, anonymous sources familiar with the matter told the paper.

The Samsung device will be similar to the Apple iPad, but thicker thanks to a built in keyboard that slides out from the casing. Microsoft hopes that the input device will take Windows tablets into the business sphere that makes up its most profitable market.

“The company believes there is a huge market for business people who want to enjoy a slate for reading newspapers and magazines and then work on Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint while doing work,” explained a person familiar with the company’s tablet plans.

The source said that Microsoft was looking for partners to build HTML5 applications for the devices but that Redmond was not looking to set up a new application store itself, preferring to leave that to third parties. The devices are expected to run the Windows 7 operating system and not interfere with Phone 7's market.

Last year Ballmer showed off several reference designs for tablets, none of which has come to market. He will be hoping for a better outcome this year and may also show off the latest build on Windows 8, which is expected in 2012.

William Kidd, director and principal analyst of financial services for iSuppli, said there is demand in the business sector for tablet computing, adding that if the dominant player Apple added interoperability with Microsoft systems, then a major selling point for Windows would disappear.

"The definition of convergence has changed over time, with the latest version describing it as voice, video and data services being delivered to the home via broadband networks and the new services that would result from this confluence, " said Kidd.

"While that trend still exists, the convergence of consumer electronics devices and industries are now coming together at a fast pace, with the tablet form factor serving a tangible representation of that convergence, since it is part smartphone and part notebook."

Microsoft has a poor record when it comes to tablets. In 1991 Bill Gates launched the Windows for Pen computers operating system, which a decade later became Tablet PC in 2002. Tablet functionality is now built into standard versions of Windows.