Microsoft to Make their Own Tablet

Tired of losing ground to the iPad, Microsoft is poised to serve up its own entry in the suddenly booming tablet market.

The company isn’t talking about its effort, but Microsoft has scheduled an event Monday in Los Angeles, where it has promised a “major” announcement.

Sources say that Microsoft concluded that it needs its own tablet, with the company designing both the hardware and software in an effort to better compete against Apple’s strengths. Microsoft’s tablets may include machines running ARM-based processors as well as models running on traditional PC processors, sources said.

Online site The Wrap reported this evening that Microsoft will manufacture its own devices.

They could focus more energy around Android, but Google is also in the hardware business, both directly through its Motorola acquisition and indirectly through its Nexus efforts, in which others manufacture devices largely designed and controlled by Google. The company is said to be working on a tablet, as well.

While Microsoft has always avoided making its own computers, it has experimented with a variety of approaches in other devices.