Before the secret revealing in San Francisco occurred for the iPad, the media was swarming with news and conspiracy theories.  The iSlate was the conspiracy name, set for the mysterious iPad creature.  After the revealing of the iPad, people were excited to place their pre-orders for the iPad.  The end of March and part of April seemed to be committed to the Apple and iPad coverage.  There did not seem to be competition of publicity with Apple and the iPad.

In comparison to the Microsoft Kin, there was a surprise revealing of the Kin.  People were excited because the Kin is “more than a features phone with texting, because of the way it shares video, texts and other data with a circle of users in three interface capabilities called Kin Loop, Kin Spot and Kin Studio” [via ComputerWorld].  While some tech blogs were buzzing with some coverage regarding the Kin, there was another agenda item that was and continues to receive notoriety.

The Double Down from KFC was launched yesterday.  If you didn’t hear about the the Microsoft Kin, you may have heard about the America’s favorite pastime: fast food. The Double Down is a “one-of-a-kind sandwich features two thick and juicy boneless white meat chicken filets (Original Recipe® or Grilled), two pieces of bacon, two melted slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese and Colonel’s Sauce. This product is so meaty, there’s no room for a bun” [via KFC]!  Look at this picture:

Clearly the Microsoft Kin is so important that everyone had to cover the Kin…and the Double Down.  Talk about competition for the lime light. So will the Microsoft Kin be popular? Who knows, but all I know is that I will remember the Microsoft Kin as the day that the glorious Double Down was released.  Speaking of which, I have to get dinner.  I’ll let you know how it is tomorrow.  Have any of you tried the Double Down?

Wow, and Steve Ballmer didn’t.  With as much hype as there is about the iSlate or Apple Tablet, Ballmer, or rather Microsoft, did not rain on the parade of the Apple Tablet at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).  With rumors circulating that Ballmer was going to reveal a Microsoft tablet, Ballmer instead presented the HP touch screen tablet.  As a result of this anti-climatic presentation, the Microsoft and HP shares fell yesterday.

According to Business Week, “Microsoft fell 19 cents to $30.77 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares jumped 57 percent last year. Hewlett- Packard, which advanced 42 percent last year, dropped 49 cents to $52.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.”  While it is uncertain that there is a direct correlation between this stock exchange rate and the rumored Microsoft rival tablet, it is clear that many people were disappointed with Microsoft.

Microsoft could not win in this competition between companies.  If Microsoft had come out with the “Gates Slate” there would have been a tsunami of blogs written about how Microsoft beat Apple to the punch similar to how during the week of the Windows 7 release, Apple released a myriad of new products.  So rather than trying to rival the Apple iSlate, Microsoft decided to concentrate on the Windows 7 compatibility.

However, perhaps Microsoft intentionally did not produce or release a “Gates Slate” because if the Apple iSlate were to blow Microsoft out of the water during Apple’s release, it would have been a worse slap in the face.

So here is the moral of the story, good job Microsoft for not trying to compete with Apple, because Jobs is already on it.

[via The Globe And Mail]