is HP's slate an iPad killer?

bargsbeer said:

That's a really good point, PC tablets have pretty much been a failure. My DR uses one for medical records and prescriptions, Other than that I have never seen one in use any where else. ( I know their a dime a dozen on ebay and craigslist)

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Funny you mentioned that as it's been my experience as well. We have about 50 nurses that use them at my company, but they've never really used the touch capabilities. Once they got their workflow figured out, they pretty much just started using them as lightweight laptops (we have convertible tablets).

Our OBGYN that we used when my wife was pregnant with our first son had one, and he used it like a laptop, but used the pen instead of a mouse. Otherwise, that's the extent of the Tablet PCs I've seen deployed in the field.

Another good point you made was that MS is not designed around touch and this most likely contributed to the failure of the PC tablet. The iPhone OS Is exclusively touch.

I think if non Apple tablets take off they will most likely be Android powered.

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Agreed. ChromeOS, in particular, seems like a natural fit for a Tablet style device. And since it's Linux, it can scale very nicely and still have the same secure, resilient nature of OS X/iPhone OS. As much as I like to think of Google as being a Microsoft competitor, in recent years they are really positioning themselves well against Apple - much more so than Microsoft.

cwa107 said:

As much as I like to think of Google as being a Microsoft competitor, in recent years they are really positioning themselves well against Apple - much more so than Microsoft.

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It makes sense Apple makes the "COOL" products. Google wants a piece of the action. Other than the Xbox what "COOL" gadgets has Microsoft come up with?
remember the Zune...lol?

I would point out the Xbox is just like the rest of the MS products. It's marketed at the kind of people who would be MS fan boys, current windows users, geeks and the like. I'm not saying it's bad. It has it's place. But it is just as cool as all their other products including the Zune etc. And how cool that cool is, well that's debatable.

But I agree Google wants to be seen as cool like Apple is seen to be by a large percentage of the population.

the8thark said:

I would point out the Xbox is just like the rest of the MS products. It's marketed at the kind of people who would be MS fan boys, current windows users, geeks and the like. I'm not saying it's bad. It has it's place. But it is just as cool as all their other products including the Zune etc. And how cool that cool is, well that's debatable.

But I agree Google wants to be seen as cool like Apple is seen to be by a large percentage of the population.

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I gotta disagree that Xbox has been extremely popular and not just with Microsoft fan boys. Lets not forget the Video game console market is much different than computers and smartphones.

bargsbeer said:

I gotta disagree that Xbox has been extremely popular and not just with Microsoft fan boys. Lets not forget the Video game console market is much different than computers and smartphones.

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Agreed. I know a lot of people who own and love their XBox who are far from Microsoft fanboys. Some I know even use Macs.

I also agree with CWA on Google being more after Apple then Microsoft of late. That is what I have been noticing also.

Here's my take on the matter. Keep in mind that I am not a fanboy, and I'm not a power-user. I'm your average Joe, so to speak.

Anyways, to me the iPad is a new take on the netbook market. It's a genius idea to tap into that market with a lightweight, one-piece (see: no hinges) computer, that also doubles as an e-reader and music player. I see exactly where they're going with this. "Why have an e-reader, when you can have a full on computer that does the same thing?!"

Personally, there are pluses and minuses to this whole deal. People like me who may get an e-reader, like the idea of the e-ink format, so we don't get eye strain. And many people may already have e-readers, and this isn't a selling point to them, anymore.

The other issue is that some people just aren't so mobile to need to take the internet with them, anywhere. I'll take my MBP with me if I need to do some serious work. If I need to take some notes, or work on an essay between classes, or even do a photoshop project, I'm set, there. I'm a realist, and understand lots of people will like that feature, but personally, and I'm sure to plenty others out there, surfing the web while I'm trying to enjoy a day out of the house isn't something that appeals to me.

I see the strong points of it, and after reading a couple of comments, I think I've come to realize that it was a good idea to use a dumbed-down OS to power the thing, however, I'm not as sure that it will be revolutionary. Great marketing? Definitely. I'm sure people who like gadgets will eat this up, and young folks who want all the newest coolest stuff. I think it remains to be seen how the general public will take this, though. I don't think it's revolutionary in any serious way, however. It's not like how iPod brought mp3 portability to the mainstream, or the iPhone brought smartphones to the forefront.

I think it has alot of potential, and could do well, but I feel it's teetering on a bunch of maybes.

Now, if any slate is going to make it, it's going to be apple's. They have the image of being the cream of the crop, and cutting edge, and just plain cool. Meanwhile, windows has the image of being buggy and getting viruses. Older folks may like it better, because they know the OS, but it's not as if they'd be making a full on switch to OSX, either. Just as with OSX, this OS just works. Everything is laid out there for you.

bargsbeer said:

I gotta disagree that Xbox has been extremely popular and not just with Microsoft fan boys. Lets not forget the Video game console market is much different than computers and smartphones.

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Stoner frat boys or geeky kids who will either grow into stoner frat boys or stay reclusive in their homes playing video games? The same guys who wouldn't get a mac because you can't play hardcore games on them, yet still own a dedicated gaming console?

For the most part... yea, M$ fanboys. Though I will admit, they have a pretty sick game selection.

I don't know that I agree with that characterization. I play TONS of xbox, and I certainly don't consider myself a microsoft fanboy, nor do I even play many PC games. I'd say the vast majority of xbox players, probably don't play PC games at all.

YouTube - iPad TV Commercial - 2010 Oscars Awesome Ipad Commercial if you haven't seen it yet. (got it from the link in the original post)

Go tablet wars!

benjaminholfeld said:

Here my 10 reasons why HP has no chance:

1) slate runs on windows (slower, more vulnerable, virus problems etc.)
2) slate is mostly just a laptop without a keyboard
3) slate crashes several times a day (hilarious how they offer the option to choose different colored screens of death (green instead of blue haha)
4) the HP touchscreen probably isn't as good as Apple's
5) no-one is gonna use flash in 10 years anymore so thats not a feature
6) HP has a totally different image than Apple. Having a HP device is not half as cool than having an Apple device
7) Slate is way more expensive than iPad (1000 instead of 500 dollars)
8) There is no real release date for the Slate yet. By the time they are on the market there are probably already millions of iPads out
9) people talk way way more about the iPad than about the slate
10) No-one needs multitasking. Human brains are not made to work on many things the same time. So when starting/closing is really fast, you will be even faster than scrolling through 20 open Applications... And Music can always play in the background. Or use your iPhone!!

My opinion.

I am definitely going to develop Apps for the iPad. I am working on a game and on an e-book so far...

Benjamin A. Holfeld (http://www.benjaminholfeld.com)

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Most, if not all of what you've said is incredibly ridiculous so I won't go quoting every line and then retort them. But in regards to #10 ?.....

Please, do not EVER EVER drive a car anywhere near other people ! Where on earth would you ever come up with such utter nonsense ? You really shouldn't post such things unless you don't care about not being taken seriously. I mean really, seeing as how YOUR brain works on only one thing at a time, the least you could have done, was some proper research ! lol

Doug

bargsbeer said:

remember the Zune...lol?

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I do. And I remember it sounding a million times better than any iteration of the iPod. And the last Zune to come out ? Still does. Marketing is Apple's best friend and MS's worst enemy. Some people actually appreciate good sound vs. flashy style. Heck, ROCKbox even makes the iPod sound better. It's just too bad that products don't sell based on the merit of their intended purposes rather than the secondary facets which seem to be more important when the first one doesn't pan out at 100%. Because if the opposite were true, people would be rocking iRiver H100 series mp3 players all over the world.

Just sayin'.

Doug

DarkestRitual said:

Stoner frat boys or geeky kids who will either grow into stoner frat boys or stay reclusive in their homes playing video games? The same guys who wouldn't get a mac because you can't play hardcore games on them, yet still own a dedicated gaming console?

For the most part... yea, M$ fanboys. Though I will admit, they have a pretty sick game selection.

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I STRONGLY disagree I don't even own a game console, MS sold a sh*t load of those Xbox' and I guarantee your average user is not a Stoner, A geek maybe,But isn't that what most of us Apple fanboys are?

SweetCosmicPope said:

I don't know that I agree with that characterization. I play TONS of xbox, and I certainly don't consider myself a microsoft fanboy, nor do I even play many PC games. I'd say the vast majority of xbox players, probably don't play PC games at all.

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I know lots of people who play Xbox and none of them are stoners.

bargsbeer said:

Kash

Exactly Apple native apps. It's not true multitasking. I'm one of those people that want to listen to internet radio,check my email,surf....etc all at the same time.

The camera accessory kit was what I was trying to point out, Apple accessorizing us to death.

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If you're surfing the net, the Mail app is still running in the background checking for new mail or having email pushed to it. You can browse the web and have all your IMs pushed to the device. You can pretty much do anything while the native apps are running in the background.

You just made my point, the only people who complain are the ones who want to play Internet radio while doing other things.

Yes, it's selective multitasking, but when you think about it, you really are only doing one thing at a time anyway. The processor is fast so switching between applications isn't really that big of a hassle. Other than Internet radio, I really don't see this as being a big of a problem as everyone is making it out to be.

I believe if people are just patient, they will even get their multitasking on the iPad. It's coming to the iPhone according to many sources in the next OS release for the iPhone. I would almost bet that will come on the iPad also.