Hewlett-Packard
may have abandoned its webOS-powered TouchPad, but it remains committed to
Windows tablets. The HP Slate 2 Tablet PC, a 1.5-pound touch-screen device
running Windows 7, will make its debut later in November for a starting price
of $699.
The HP Slate 2
Tablet PC uses a 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 processor to power applications on its
8.9-inch screen. HP is playing up the device’s security features (including a
TPM Embedded Security Chip) and an HP Slate Digital Pen that expands its input
options beyond fingers. It is aimed at more of a business audience than the
rest of the tablet market, which is overwhelmingly geared toward everyday
consumers (with the expectation that those consumers will bring their devices
into the enterprise, per the current trend).
The tablet is
the successor to HP’s Slate 500, which released in late 2010 for $799. That
8.9-inch device came loaded with Windows 7 Professional, a single USB port, an
SD card slot, front- and rear-facing cameras for video conferencing, 1.86GHz
Intel Atom Z540 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of flash storage. It also came
with Office 2010 and Evernote organizational software.
Despite
killing the TouchPad earlier this year, HP is intent on remaining in the tablet
market. “I think we need to be in the tablet business,” HP CEO Meg Whitman told
analysts and reporters during an Oct. 27 conference call. “We’re certainly
going to be there with Windows 8, and we’re going to make a long-term decision
about webOS.”
Todd Bradley,
executive vice president of HP’s Personal Systems Group (PSG), also said during
the call: “We’re continuing to focus on a Microsoft tablet that we have and
focus on Windows 8,” referring in the former case to a Windows 7 device
targeted at the business community.
Due sometime
in 2012, Windows 8 will pair the “traditional” Windows desktop with another
user interface based on a colorful set of tiles, with easy switching between
the two. The tile-centric interface is meant to operate on tablets, which in
turn will allow Microsoft to finally compete against Apple’s iPad in that
segment.
HP has made no
indication over the past few days that it will revive the TouchPad, which met
with some critical praise but anemic sales following its July release in the
United States. Six weeks after that debut, then-CEO Leo Apotheker announced HP
was killing off the 9.7-inch tablet, as part of a major strategic realignment
that also included the partial or full spin-off of PSG, the division
responsible for manufacturing PCs. Whitman decided to keep PSG as a part of HP.
In the
meantime, the HP Slate seems a preamble to the company’s real tablet push:
Windows 8.
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