Both companies highlighted their tablets, both aimed at the enterprise market, and both tablets were completely different from the Apple iPad and from each other. Could this mean a fragmentation of the tablet market or simply a market that is too broad for one device to satisfy?
HP is the first out of the gate with an enterprise tablet. The Slate 500 went on sale just after midnight on October 22 on the HP Web site. Chris Preimesberger, who examined the device, describes it as being narrower and lighter than the iPad. More significantly, the device runs Windows 7 Professional.
According to HP’s press materials, this tablet is designed as a business machine rather than a consumer electronics item. This means that it comes with Microsoft Office 2010, it has a stylus for entering handwritten notes and for writing e-mails. The Slate 500 includes a docking station with additional USB ports, a video port, and it includes two cameras, one facing to the front and one to the rear for video conferencing and for taking photos of things. The four-finger multi-touch screen also means that you aren’t dependant on the stylus to use the Slate.
What’s less well-known is that tablet computers aren’t new at HP. I used the first one well over a decade ago. In those days the device was more like a laptop with a detachable screen. On the bottom was the keyboard. Enclosed in the screen section were a battery, the hard disk and the WiFi radio, and a socket for holding the electronic stylus. You needed to use the stylus or a USB mouse and keyboard to use the computer. Over the years HP has updated its line of tablet computers, and the Slate 500 is a logical evolution of that product line.
RIM’s tablet, meanwhile, may be aimed at the enterprise, but it has little in common with the HP Slate. The RIM device is designed to be used in conjunction with a BlackBerry smart phone. Like the HP, the PlayBook has support for WiFi and Bluetooth. Also like the HP, it does not have a 3G or 4G radio. The PlayBook is designed to sync with BlackBerry devices, and it’s designed to tether to them for access to high speed wireless Internet access.
RIM claims the PlayBook is also not competing with the Apple iPad for consumer dollars. While about half of all BlackBerries are sold to consumers, it’s hard to imagine a large number of consumers wanting their tablet tethered to their phones.
