Microsoft's $1M Question: Is W8 Its Lifeline?

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) is expected to announce a new Windows 8 tablet today in Los Angeles at approximately 6:30 P.M. EDT. In true diva fashion, the company has cloaked the event with secrecy that appears premeditated. It announced a press conference, sent invitations to the media, but opted to be "purposely vague" in terms of its description of the event, except to say that it would make a "major announcement."

The fact of the matter is, though it can control how the news comes out, the company understands that it can't control how the product is received. Let's hope that this is not a Lebron James-type of an announcement, when he let down the entire city of Cleveland. However, for Microsoft, this time, it will signal whether the company should continue to be taken seriously as a legitimate threat to the likes of Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) and now Samsung in the race for technology supremacy.

While the tablet is no longer a novel idea, Microsoft realizes that it is one to the few things that has eluded the company over the past decade, causing it to languish even further behind some of the names mentioned above. However, it is not because the company has not put forth the effort. In fact, it has previously invested millions into a tablet project called "Courier." I suspect that it was given that codename based on the company's prior promises of "delivering on its promises." But it was scrapped just before it hit the market.

The reason is, as dominant as Microsoft has been over the years in terms of its PC, server and enterprise market share, it appears that Apple has caused the company to feel grossly insecure and inadequate. For this reason, the company demonstrated a lack of belief in its own ability to give consumers what they haven't realized they want yet -- a skill that Apple has mastered. "Courier" was going to be revolutionary as it contained two separate screens of approximately 7 inches each.

The idea is that one screen would be used for viewing or research, while the other is used for creating content. Furthermore, it was touch-friendly, while also supporting pens and a stylus.

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