HP dropping Windows 7 slate after Palm deal?

HP has killed development of its Windows 7-powered slate following its acquisition of Palm, according to reports.

The story comes courtesy of TechCrunch, which cites sources familiar with the project. Instead of Windows 7 – which the story claims is too resource hungry for HP’s liking – the company is looking to make use of Palm’s webOS platform.

Todd Bradley, who leads HP’s PC unit, has claimed that Palm’s webOS operating system gives the company a unique platform for “connected products” including “slates”.

If we assume that they (Palm) already have something started, we have to assume they were doing it on the cheap. Now, even with some gas in the tank, it’s still going to take some time to get it going

Dell, Toshiba and other major players are expected to launch their own iPad rivals this year. The market is expected to grow to around 50 million units in 2014, according to research group In-Stat.

HP’s first slate emerged in January. The roughly 10in touchscreen device ran on Microsoft’s Windows, and the company had been trickling out teaser videos for several months, although it never officially announced a launch date.

HP and Microsoft declined to comment, but Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, claimed it wouldn’t be a surprise if HP abandoned the idea of a Windows tablet.

“When they bought Palm, this is what I figured was going to happen,” he said, claiming the device had “serious problems”.

“It was too heavy and it didn’t perform well. I think Microsoft takes the hit on this one. HP wanted it to do things that it just couldn’t do,” he concluded.

Industry watchers have claimed Palm had been working on a prototype tablet device based on webOS, but that development was hurt by a last of cash. With HP’s deep pockets, that will no longer be a problem.

Palm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“If we assume that they (Palm) already have something started, we have to assume they were doing it on the cheap,” said Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney. “Now, even with some gas in the tank, it’s still going to take some time to get it going. Plus, the app store is just not there yet.”

“You’ve got to be sure you’ve got it right before you launch. The little things matter in this business,” he added, suggesting a slate was unlikely to make an appearance until next year.