With the demise of Comdex, the computer industry moved over to the Consumer Electronics Show as the place to make big splashes, show off hot new products and generate buzz. For years, Microsoft dominated this show, as witnessed by the fact that Chairman Bill Gates was the opening keynote speaker for several years.
Gates has since retired from his company to focus on his charitable work and CEO Steve Ballmer has taken over as speaker. While still in the pole position as a speaker, the attention is not on a Windows product, but on Google’s Android. Enterprise Mobile Today has the story.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may have stolen a little thunder from Apple’s rumored announcement of a slate PC during his keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but three leading analysts say that the real thunder theft at this year’s show is coming from Microsoft’s mobile competitors.
“The show has drifted away from Microsoft and the really interesting products are Android-based,” Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told InternetNews.com, referring to Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) mobile operating system.
Besides the slate computer’s brief appearance, however, Ballmer also promised that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will have announcements regarding its Windows Phone software at next month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Ballmer did not say what Microsoft will announce next month in Spain, but many observers expect it will be the long-awaited, much-talked-about Windows Mobile 7 — now referred to as Windows Phone 7.