Microsoft 2010: Slates, Mobile and the Cloud

The year began in typical Microsoft fashion, with CEO Steve Ballmer looking to make a splash at the annual CES show, this time announcing a new tablet PC from HP that would be powered by Windows 7. As the hype surrounding Apple’s iPad persisted, Ballmer talked often of Microsoft’s designs on the tablet sector, though it is now evident that Microsoft’s entrée into the market won’t really come into bloom until next year.

Then there’s the cloud. A major theme of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference, the transition to the cloud guided many of the company’s moves throughout the year, including an effort to deliver its lucrative Office productivity suite as a Web-based service. That effort brought Microsoft into another area of competition with Google, with each company vying for big institutional contracts for their cloud apps.

And in mobile, Microsoft managed to deliver its Windows Phone 7 line in time for the holidays, though it is struggling to catch up with Google’s fast-growing Android line of devices. Datamation looks back at Microsoft’s successes and setbacks in 2010.

Over the past several years, Microsoft has conditioned its audience to expect the company to debut its latest big thing at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas the first week of January.

For instance, during his keynote at CES 2010, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer showed off a Windows 7-based slate computer from HP that shipped to enterprise customers in late October.

Read the full story at Datamation:


Microsoft 2010 Year in Review: Smartphones, the Cloud, Tablets