HP Slate killed? Rumor mill says 'yes'

Last night TechCrunch reported that, according to an unnamed "source briefed on the matter," HP had stopped development of the Slate in its tracks, killing off the project entirely. Why? Well, according to the source, HP isn't thrilled with Windows 7's performance on the tablet. The Slate -- which was officially unveiled in January by Steve Ballmer himself -- had a rumored price of $549, and was supposedly launching in June. So, what should we make of all this? Well, there's probably some major chaos over at HP with the news of the Palm acquisition, so we wouldn't be surprised to hear some shaky -- or even incorrect -- information coming out of the company right now. On the other hand, HP killing off the project doesn't sound completely out of the realm of possibility to us. We've reached out to HP for comment, but they've yet to get back to us. We'll let you know when we hear something more concrete.

Update: Here's the response we just go from HP -- "We don't comment on rumors or speculation."

[sejohannsenearthlinknet Posted May 1st 2010 5:48PM]

@xdeiri Guess you've never loaded Win7 on a device with a touch screen. It does in fact have Tablet features. Problem is that everyone has bought into the Jobs distortion field that says if you see a stylus, it's a fail. Far from it in my view. If I have to write with my finger, it's a fail, and I do own an iPad. It's a nice media device, but as a light, portable, productivity device, it's a fail. Even with the stripped versions of iWorks, which I have, it can't compare with Word, Excel, etc on a Windows PC, ot tablet. If I'm carryiong it around, the stylus is much more convenient for taking notes on OneNote, than my finger is on Chalkboard on the iPad. Both have on-screen keyboards, on Win 7 I can tap with fingers or stylus, on a full keyboard, not just the characters that will fit on the screen. Either can be paired with a BT keyboard, the Win Tablet with a mouse as well. MS isn't morons and neither is HP. Unfortunately they are marketing to them.

[cheesymogul Posted May 1st 2010 6:20AM]

Someone should put these iPad "killers" on suicide watch.

[Kirikera Posted May 1st 2010 9:34AM]

A Windows based slate will never make it for these reasons:
a. Battery Life
b. App Store - the only desktop OS that has a very good App store is Ubuntu with it's software center
c. No desktop OS supports touch properly, and this includes Windows, MacOS and various versions of Linux. The icons, buttons and scroll bars are too small and most of the "mouse over" stuff will not work
d. Disk fragmentation on Windows will make it sluggish
e. The Registry gets clogged up (it is like cars with carbeurettors of old)
f. It uses .NET for its shell. .Net is a huge ugly unwieldy, clumsy and kludgy monster that sits on top of the OS consuming all available resources such as memory and CPU. If not anything, just .NET should be sufficient for Windows tablets to fail

[Sone Posted May 1st 2010 10:37AM]

Seriously guys, who needs a slate or ipad?? They're too big to carry everywhere unless you have a bag. I rather have a large touchscreen like htc hd2 or evo and be able to put it on my hip. They're portable and have the horsepower to do what the iPad and Slate can do.

[cool8man Posted May 1st 2010 12:56PM]

@Sone A smartphone is not going to cover the usage scenarios or match the experience of an HP Slate. Even the Evo 4G which has a large 4.3" 480x800 screen can't match the experience of a 8.9" 1024x600 screen.

Personally I want an HP Slate instead of a standard netbook because it's a half-inch thick 1.5lb Windows 7 machine. I want it for touch-based vertical web browsing. I've had HP Tablets in the past and I miss the experience of holding something in your hand and reading in the vertical orientation. The web experience is not the same as viewing web pages on a smartphone because you can view the entire page without having to zoom into sections.

I also think an HP Slate would be the most versatile media consumption device of it's kind allowing you access to services from Netflix, Hulu, Sling, iTunes, Zune, Amazon, Rhapsody, Napster, and Windows Media Center. You're not going to get that amount of choice from an Android/webOS tablet or an iPad.

Video chat and camera on a 1.5lb handheld computer would be especially nice for programs like Skype and Google Talk.

And finally when I'd need to use MS Office programs I'd be able to dock the Slate and turn it into a desktop computer by attaching a mouse, keyboard and even a monitor.

I'm praying to the tech gods the rumors are false and this device is still being made.

[cool8man Posted May 1st 2010 1:11PM]

Despite what anyone tells you there is no market for a standalone webOS tablet. HP could invest 10's of billions of dollars in webOS tablets and they would still lose badly to Google and Apple in the tablet market. The best that HP could do with webOS is make it run inside of Windows 7 and Android tablets and offer the content of the webOS app store exclusively for these tablets. This would give HP a lot of exclusive touch based content over any potential Windows 7 tablet rivals like Lenovo or Dell.

I'm praying that this was the test that HP forced Palm to show them was possible before agreeing to buy the company. This is the only thing that would make this whole debacle make sense. Imagine if HP came out and said not only do you get a great Windows or Android tablet but you also get on top of that the webOS UI and apps. That would give HP an instant advantage over all of their PC rivals.

Anyone who thinks an standalone HP webOS tablet is going to be competitive with the iPad or the entire Android tablet ecosystem is delusional. However slapping webOS on top of Windows or Android gives HP an advantage over rivals. That is the only strategy that makes any sense realistically.

[terrence1019 Posted May 1st 2010 1:57PM]

iPad Killer? We can't even get an iPad challenger!!

[Andrztk21 Posted May 1st 2010 2:05PM]

i think the hp slate will be out in a while but whit WebOS

[terrence1019 Posted May 1st 2010 2:05PM]

HP Slate: dead

MS Courier: dead

Apple iPad: the last man standing

[szamot Posted May 1st 2010 3:00PM]

humm, to go back in time and read all the comments of all the people who said " iPad is stupid, I am waiting for my HP slate"

Yeah about that, may I suggest to all of you nay sayers, get an Etch a Sketch - always a safe bet and definitely not an iPad.

[cez Posted May 1st 2010 5:03PM]

WebOS on Tablet? that sucks!! a Tablet running a phoneOS is too weak! was waiting for HP slate because its suppose to run full feature Windows 7! urgh...i might as well go get an iPad tomorrow.

[cez Posted May 1st 2010 5:05PM]

and possibly Google's tablet will be killed at some stage too

[mikeplow1961 Posted May 2nd 2010 4:54AM]

@cez Well I've messaged Phil McKinney of HP and asked him if he will issue a statement asap.

If it's not going ahead I think we, as potential customers, have a right to know so we can make a decision about what we do. I'm happy to go out and buy a HP TM2. I'd far prefer the slate form factor though. I just want to know whether to spend my money now or sit tight and wait for the Slate to come out if it is going to.

[mikeplow1961 Posted May 4th 2010 6:17AM]

http://www.savehpslate.com