Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is confident that Windows will successfully power a “new breed” of touchscreen tablet PCs.
“Depending on what you’re trying to get done with the device at different times, there will be people who absolutely will want the comfortable and familiar look of Windows,” Ballmer claimed at the All Things Digital conference, in a staement quoted by Reuters.
“There’s nothing bad for us in the [tablet/smartphone] trend. We are moving from a world that’s fundamentally good for us to a world that could be even better.”
Ballmer also rejected recent claims by Apple CEO Steve Jobs that the PC would be slowly phased out and replaced by a plethora of tablet devices.
“I think people are going to be using PCs in greater and greater numbers for many years to come…PCs will look different next year and the year after. They’ll get smaller and lighter,” he opined (via HuffingtonPost).
“Some will have keyboards and some won’t…Sometimes the user interface will look like your desktop but sometimes look like what we’ve done in Windows Media Center.”
However, Ballmer emphasized that “nothing people do on a PC is going to get less relevant tomorrow.”
“There will exist a general purpose device to do everything you want. The PC as we know it will continue to morph form factors. The real question is what you do with it.”
