HP's Win7 iPad-Like Tablet Cancelled, Reports Suggest

It would appear two potential rivals to Apple's iPad have been bumped off by their parent companies in just a few days' time. According to reports, Hewlett-Packard's (HP) Slate tablet, which planned to use Windows 7, has been cancelled. The news comes less than a week after word that Microsoft had nixed its Courier device.

Microsoft admitted last week that it had no plans to release a final version of Courier, a dual-screen, touch screen tablet computer that opened up like an old-timey book and used a stylus for navigation. That wasn't such a huge surprise, since Courier received most of its attention from technology blogs and was never formally unveiled by MS.

Slate's Marketing All For Nothing

The Slate situation is much different, however.

HP had more aggressively marketed its device, with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer excitedly demonstrating its abilities -- topped by its running MS operating system (OS) Windows 7 -- at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last year. In addition, just a few weeks ago a promotional video for Slate appeared on the web, touting the tablet's many qualities. (Source: hothardware.com)

Slate was set for release this summer, in time to bask in the tablet-love created by Apple's iPad (released in early April).

Report Suggests Windows 7 to Blame

So, why cancel the Slate? According to bloggers at TechCrunch, HP wasn't pleased with the way Windows 7 ran on the tablet. Beyond speed issues, Windows 7 is optimized for use on a PC, not a touch screen handheld. It's possible navigating Windows 7 on a tablet just wasn't everything Ballmer had made it out to be. (Source: sfgate.com)

Also contributing to rumored cancellation, was the troubling power consumption of Intel-based processors.

In the end, it's unlikely this means HP is out of the tablet market for good. Instead, given the company's recent acquisition of Palm, it's entirely possible they're preparing for another, similar device with entirely different mechanics -- starting with the operating system. (Source: sfgate.com)

If running Windows 7 on a tablet was akin to running Vista on a netbook (and we all know that didn't work for HP in the past), then perhaps Slate's cancellation is a wise decision, indeed.