Microsoft to unveil tablet computer - report

Microsoft Corp is to unveil its new tablet computer system - a notepad-size computer controlled by a pen, the Financial Times reported without citing sources.

At an event in New York City, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will announce the release of the company's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition in partnership with eight companies, including Acer Inc, Fujitsu Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Co and others, it said.

Microsoft is expected to proclaim that tablet-style computing with a pen is a more natural and easier to use technology than personal computers with keyboard and mouse.

Gates has said the machines will be used as note-takers for professionals in meetings, reading tools for next generation electronic books and automation tools for a range of workers, from doctors and nurses to sales representatives and delivery workers.

The tablet companies are hoping to persuade users to pay a premium of 10 - 20% over the cost of today's notebooks, meaning that the machines will generally be priced from 2,000-$3,000, the FT said.

Microsoft is betting that it can succeed where dozens of Silicon Valley companies have failed, the FT said. The pen computing vision has consistently led to the valley's most spectacular commercial flops. Among them were failed efforts like Grid, Agilis, the Go Corporation, Eo, General Magic, Apple, Momenta and others, it added.