Microsoft’s big reveal
Jeremy Hobson: Microsoft is expected to make a big announcement this afternoon in Los Angeles. The company isn’t saying exactly what it’ll announce.
But as Marketplace’s Queena Kim reports, the tech world has a pretty strong hunch.
Queena Kim: If the rumor mill is right, Microsoft will unveil its own tablet today. But consider the roadblocks: Apple. Apple. Apple. And the roadkill: BlackBerry Playbook, the HP TouchPad.
Carolina Milanesi is an analyst at Gartner. She says Microsoft has even more than the competition to worry about: It needs to unload the legacy of its own brand.
Carolina Milanesi: Corporate — it doesn’t link to sexy and fun and consumer.
Microsoft is still a force in technology, but it’s been losing ground to Google and Apple as people shift to smartphones and tablets. But there is one bright spot. The Xbox, Microsoft’s gaming system, which streams movies, music and some cable channels on demand.
Scott Steinberg is an analyst at Tech Savvy.
Steinberg: They’ve made no secret of the fact that they want to take over the digital living room.
A room that hasn’t been so inviting to Google and Apple. And that big meeting today — it’s in the entertainment capital of the world.
In San Francisco, I’m Queena Kim for Marketplace.
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