Instead of unveiling an elegant response to the iPad, Microsoft attended the technology industry's premier gadget show in Seattle with a collection of exposed computer guts.
The company's biggest news was that the next version of Windows would run on the king of mobile phone chips which currently power the iPad and other tablets. It proved it with a series of demonstrations on half-built computers; on the monitors hooked up to those machines, the software was indistinguishable from the current Windows 7.
Microsoft's missing tablet served as a reminder that the world's largest software maker remains years from a serious entry into this new category of devices.
It also raised more doubts about whether Microsoft will ever be able to grab a meaningful piece of this fast-growing sector. If it cannot, Microsoft's dominance of personal computers may become increasingly irrelevant as people embrace ever-sleeker portable devices.
Chief executive Steve Ballmer mostly lingered on what went right last year when he gave the company's customary keynote address on the eve of the International Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday.
He had plenty to boast about - Xbox 360 and the Kinect motion-sensing controller which has racked up more than 1 billion dollars (£645 million) in sales in just two months, a ground-up overhaul of the Windows smart-phone software and rapid adoption of Windows 7 on PCs are all legitimate successes.
Nevertheless, it is hard for anyone to applaud Microsoft without noting the threats posed by the growing popularity of Apple's iPad. It is also hard to see Windows as a tablet contender amid an onslaught of new tablets running Google's Android software, which has already helped turn mobile phones into mini-computers.
Those concerns have been weighing on Microsoft stock, which has hovered around the 20-30 dollar (£13-20) range for the past decade. Apple, on the other hand, has seen its share price more than triple since the first iPhone was announced in early 2007.
Last year, Apple's market capitalisation surpassed Microsoft's, making Apple the second-largest US public company after Exxon Mobil.
Microsoft has not been absent from the tablet discussion - Windows tablets have been around for years, but the devices never caught on with the mainstream. At last year's gadget show, Mr Ballmer demonstrated a sleek "slate" from Hewlett-Packard which runs Windows 7, and today there are several iPad-esque tablets which use Microsoft's operating system.
But those gadgets have none of the iPad's cachet, and Microsoft has done little to market them. And it is the upcoming Honeycomb version of Android, Google's first to be designed specifically for tablets, which is seen as the best shot to challenge Apple.
Many analysts and design experts say Windows 7 is doomed to fail as a tablet system because it was created with the keyboard and mouse in mind. At best, said technology industry analyst Rob Enderle, Windows 7 tablets are a stopgap measure while Microsoft pushes ahead on what will likely be called Windows 8.
Microsoft declined to make Mr Ballmer available for an interview. Given the rudimentary proof-of-concept work Microsoft demonstrated on Wednesday, and the difficulty of the task of building a multi-platform operating system, analysts do not expect a new Windows to arrive for at least another two years. Microsoft moved late in part because it did not take tablets seriously.
"Remember, we just had the netbook scare," Mr Enderle said in an interview.
Netbooks, a class of cheap, under-powered laptops which at first ran versions of the free, open-source Linux operating system, were heralded as the end to Windows' domination. But Windows soon edged out Linux on netbooks; shortly thereafter, consumers realised the devices were not good for such tasks as watching online video. The phase passed so quickly that when the industry moved on to tablets, Microsoft expected to see the same progression, Mr Enderle said.
The factor Microsoft apparently failed to take into consideration was Apple, which scoffed at netbooks but took the tablet very seriously. When the iPad launched, Apple's design and marketing savvy tipped tablets into the mainstream.
"Now, they recognise that they've got a problem," Mr Enderle said.
In the near term, worrying about Microsoft crumbling at Apple's feet seems overblown despite its stagnant stock. After all, the software maker has for years handily fended off challenges to its cash cows, Windows and Office, from the likes of Google and Apple.
The company, with more than 40 billion dollars (£25.9 billion) in cash on its balance sheet, can afford to slog from behind in areas such as search and smart phones. Its earnings rose 29% and revenue grew 7% in its last fiscal year which ended in June, while most other companies were foundering in the global recession.
Microsoft's dividends are generous and steady. Mr Ballmer frequently draws criticism from the media but wins high praise from analysts and large shareholders for delivering quarter after quarter of strong results that most other chief executives would envy.
But some analysts fear that missing the tablet boat might make a lethal crack in Microsoft's complete dominance in the PC market.
Wells Fargo Securities analyst Jason Maynard said he worries that, even though Microsoft still generates the bulk of its wealth from corporate spending on technology, consumers are starting to have more sway in deciding the kinds of devices that make it into the workplace.
This trend, Mr Maynard said, could become the "Trojan horse" that Apple needs to increase Mac sales to businesses, or that Google needs to chip away at Microsoft's hold on email and desktop software.
When Microsoft changes direction, it must weigh the effect its moves will have on more than a billion Windows PC users.
Roger Kay, founder of the research group Endpoint Technologies Associates, said this hampered Microsoft's tablet planning. It cannot afford to repeat the pattern when the next hot device trend lands.
"It's clear Microsoft has to become more nimble," he said. "It may be able to recover from this tablet debacle, but this won't do for business as usual."