Microsoft's Steve Ballmer : Lots of talk, but no iPad competitor...yet

Fortune's tech blogger, Philip Elmer-DeWitt has a pretty good post recapping Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's comments on the tablet market, dominated right now by Apple's iPad.

Microsoft has been in the tablet game for years, but was never able to bring the product into the mainstream. Apple has done it in a matter of months. Which is why Ballmer's comments during Microsoft's annual meeting with financial analysts are interesting and kinda fun to read.

(Note: I'm not a Microsoft hater; it just makes for intriguing news to see a CEO scrambling to make his company look relevant in a hot consumer space, the tablet market.)

My favorite quote from Balmer:

"We've got everything on our side if we do things really right." (emphasis mine)

That's a big if, Steve. Microsoft got Windows 7 right, though (and it's selling like hotcakes) so I'm not gonna count you guys out in the tablet market. But it seems like, by now, Apple will likely have a year's lead in the tablet marketplace.

Will we see a Windows-based tablet by the end of the year? I hope so.