Ballmer talks big on TabletPCs @ Comdex

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer says TabletPCs could eventually account for one-third of all computers--by supplanting the laptop.

Ballmer told CNET News.com that over the next three to four years, the cost difference between building a tablet PC and a traditional notebook will evaporate, making the addition of tablet-related abilities into all portables a natural.

"There will be a zero cost (difference) for tablet," Ballmer said Sunday at a Microsoft party at the swank Aureole restaurant in the Mandalay Bay Casino here. The party took place just as Comdex Fall 2002 was kicking into gear.

Ballmer also added some detail on the Smart Personal Object (SPOT) technology that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates outlined in his keynote speech Sunday at Comdex. Ballmer said that devices such as alarm clocks and refrigerator magnets will run Microsoft's .Net Compact Framework and hinted that the devices might themselves use elements of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system. The devices will also use some kind of inexpensive wireless technology, with Gates promising to reveal more technical details at January's Consumer Electronics Show.

View: Ballmer: Tablets will erase laptops