Microsoft may be about to launch tablet to rival iPad

Microsoft appears to be preparing to launch an own-brand tablet running a new version of Windows in an effort to compete with Apple’s iPad.

An invitation to an event in Los Angeles this evening sent out by the software company late on Thursday – but lacking venue details – has sparked expectation that Steve Ballmer’s company is now ready to take on Apple’s dominance in the tablet market.

This would be a dramatic break from Microsoft’s usual moves in computer hardware, where it develops the software and licenses that to hardware makers to ensure the broadest possible market.

But Microsoft has fallen behind Apple and Google in the fast-growing tablet market – already one-eighth as large as the PC market and forecast to be 40 per cent by 2016.

The fastest growth in tablet sales is in western countries, where PC sales are slowing, reducing sales in the Windows division in four of the past six quarters. Windows 8, to be released this year, is designed to be used on a tablet as well as a desktop PC.

“If Microsoft wants to control the entire user experience they have to build their own hardware,” said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions, on Microsoft, a Redmond-based market research firm.

The location of tonight’s event, near Hollywood, could indicate that Microsoft may announce a content deal using its new SmartGlass app, which bridges the gap between the TV and the smartphone or tablet. The timing of the launch would also spike Google’s guns. The search giant is expected to unveil an own-brand tablet at its Input/Output event on June 27th. Microsoft has declined to comment. - (Guardian service)