Stop me if you've heard this one before.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will take the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month to showcase some slate computers (aka tablets) that will promise to wow the geeks who gather for the annual granddaddy of all technology conferences.
That was the headline around this time last year and, of course, we're still waiting for this world-changing tablet PC from Microsoft to surface. Granted, some tablet PCs have been launched since Ballmer held up that HP Slate device from the stage 11 months ago. Only it was Apple that set the bar for tablet computing with its April launch of the iPad back in April. And let's not forget the arrival of the first tablets running Google's Android mobile operating system that are starting to surface.
But Microsoft? We're still waiting.
Microsoft as the modern day Titanic; we all know how that ends
Despite that, the New York Times, citing "people familiar with Microsoft's plans," is reporting that Balmmer will use the CES keynote stage - again - to present "a slew of new slates" that will apparently give Apple's iPad a run for its money. The report says that Ballmer will showcase slates built by partners Samsung and Dell, as well as others.
Not that any of this is confirmed (or that anyone should believe that these products will actually ever surface) but here's what the NYT is reporting:
Previous coverage: Ballmer lands keynote at CES 2011 but can he make it to January?