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Thus I work my way around to the much anticipated piece de resistance, that being HP and it ill-advised HP Slate 500, the herald for WebOS. At last, you sigh, reading my article, as HP has been unnervingly quiet since CES (Computer Electronics Show) 2011.

Announced and introduced earlier last year in 2010, the Year of the Apple iPad at the CES (Computer Electronics Show) 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada by a rather nervous looking Microsoft COO (Chief Operating Officer) Steve Ballmer on behalf of Hewlett Packard, it made an equally nervous outing for the rest of the year. Microsoft was in trouble, and they knew it, as they were caught flat-footed by the affable and playful Apple iPad, the PlayMate of the Year 2010.

Knowing Windows 7 Professional, the Tablet’s OS, CNET Editor, Brook Crothers concluded it was more suited for Laptops and Netbooks than for a touch screen interface, and thus was more Laptop and Netbook-centric than Tablet-friendly.

The Windows 7 Professional 8.9″ Tablet device was packing a Intel Atom Z540 Processor 1.88Ghz 512Kb L2 cache with a 2GB DDR2 667MHz on board memory and 64 GB SSD Hard Drive with VGA front facing web cam, 3MB outward facing camera packs Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n), Bluetooth, USB and a docking cradle with HDMI (High Definition Media Input). Delightful specs. Poor battery life!

USB ports and Audio Aux Jack for hands free operation, makes the HP Slate a rather power hungry based on its specs, but has all the bells and whistles for the Windows Users not interested to trade up their Microsoft Office and productivity suits to enter Apple’s tightly Apple iOS Integrated Ecosystem. Delightful specs. Battery life just decreased!

The fact that it appears to be a hash of Windows 7, which is not optimized for Tablet usage, indicates that HP is merely along for the ride to help Redmond based Microsoft out of a tight spot, blindsided American Football style.

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Apple CEO Steve Jobs romps all the way to the end zone pre-London 2012 Olympics in superstardom Computer history. Touchdown! Crowd goes wild!

The HP Slate 500, rather late in coming has now burst onto the scene as a US$799 Tablet, akin to the as yet launched RIM Playbook aimed at the Business and Industrial Customers, as opposed to the more playful Apple iPad aimed at Regular Consumers.

But here is the part where you can start jumping up and down, if you are an aficionado of HP, a rather strange and rare thing to be admittedly. This is for you people out there. Hewlett Packard’s HP Slate 500, which launched on Friday October 22, 2010, with a price of US$799, was within three (3) weeks oversubscribed!

HP, apparently as nervous as Microsoft COO (Chief Operating Officer) Steve Ballmer originally made ONLY five thousand (5000) units for a Monday December 27 2010 shipping (and launch?) date, due to – and this, people, is a direct quote from HP’s Sales Department – “extraordinary demand”.

In fact – or at least based on a news report by EnGadget (sorry, no quotes from the CNET or ZDNET Reporters!) – they rehired laid off workers as well as taking on extra workers to ramp up production of the HP Slate 500 to – get this! – approximately nine thousand (9,000) Tablets!

More surprises from EnGadget!

The HP Slate 500 was shipping to market by Monday, December 27th 2010 with a price drop of US$100! If the news is to believed, then the HP Slate 500, at an expected price of US$699, was ripe for further price drops as demand build up, thus apparently creating the economy-of-scale in terms of demand needed to sell the device at a low enough price in 2011.

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HP, oh ye of little faith! People desire Tablets, but HP’s greed to make money blinds them to committing full Research and Development Resources to making a full-fledged Tablet using the Web OS that they acquired for US$1.2 billion when they bought Palm.

Silly rabbits, thinking that the Apple iPad was a Toy! It is the future of computing, already set to make the Netbook, Tablet and the PC extinct.

Microsoft would do best to prep and launch the thus far excellent Courier Tablet, which was previously confirmed cancelled, for an early 2011 launch, if only to pre-empt CEO Steve Jobs WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) in early January 2011 and the coming lower price of the RIM Playbook.

A Toshiba revival of the limited edition Toshiba Libretto does not look unlikely either. This is not mentioning the as yet launched the dual-booting ViewSonic Viewpad, of which no confirmed sightings have been made, only rumours.

More as this and other Tablets unfold in this never-ending soap opera in these Days of our Lives Style in Silicon Valley, the Valley of the Kings.

But what of the union between Microsoft and Nokia? Will Microsoft use Nokia to make the Hardware and Windows 7 or 8 as the software? Stay tuned for a follow up…….

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