Remember the big announcement HP and Microsoft made at CES 2010? I don’t really, because it’s not a big announcement, they’ve just said something about a slate type tablet running Windows 7 and that’s pretty much it: no price or specs were disclosed, besides the fact that it will be affordable. Even if this practice seems idiotic I assure you HP knew what they were doing: expecting the iPad announcement to see the price needed to be set in order to stimulate sales.

    Now that we know iPad sells for 599$ the cheapest version and 629$ for the 3G enabled model, I’m pretty sure HP will lower price further down. Even if I’m not a big fan of full desktop OS versions being fitted into small devices, but I’m not satisfied either by Android OS on a big screen tablet, mainly because I see tablets as a replacement for a thin and light notebook, or even a laptop (if you only do some casual work), but I guess 2010 will be a year that will define this trend, thanks to the fact that first slim slate tablets will hit shelves and consumer reaction can then be measured with ease.

    HP Slate: the enemy in the shadows

    HP Slate: the enemy in the shadow

    Source: Ubergizmo