The Korea Economic Daily reported that during next week’s Microsoft BUILD, the developer conference in California set to run from September 13-16, the company will unveil a new tablet sporting the new Windows 8 platform.  The tablet is said to be the product of Microsoft and Samsung’s collaboration.

“This new product manufactured by Samsung will be the company’s first collaboration with Microsoft in its hardware devices,” it quoted the source as saying.

Another source suggests that registered developers might actually get a free tablet, since Microsoft boasted a few weeks ago that a quad-core Windows tablet will be given out during the conference accompanied by the thin device flashed in from of everyone as a teaser.

So what will make it different from all the other available tablets out in the market?  This one would actually be able to run desktop apps, not like Apple devices wherein the Mac uses a different OS from the iPad.  Aside from that, Microsoft brags that if they do launch a tablet, it will have a “Natural User Interface” – simply put, it will perform much like an iOS device.  Also, it is rumored that Windows 8 will be able to run Windows Phone 7 apps, just like iPhone apps working on iPads.

If this is true, Bill Gates’ dream of producing a real tablet will now become a reality.  It is a well-known fact that they were the ones who initially introduced tablets, with those bulky convertible laptops.  Those weren’t popular, as they lacked aesthetic features as well as sustainable battery life.  This was what made the iPad so popular.  It’s light, portable, aesthetically pleasing and has enough juice to let you perform daily tasks.

As for Samsung, the company is looking for opportunities to reduce its reliability on the Android platform, especially with Google clearly playing favorites.  They already started weaning from Android as they revived their Bada platform in their new Wave series smartphones.

It seems like the rumored Samsung Windows 8 Tablet is just like the iPad.  Did Samsung bet on the wrong horse again?  Will Samsung be up for another infringement lawsuit?  Guess we’ll just have to wait and see for the unveiling at the Microsoft BUILD conference.