HardwareCentral - HP Commits to Windows 7 Slate for the Enterprise

HP Commits to Windows 7 Slate for the Enterprise

Different Slates for Home and Office

July 28, 2010
By David Needle

HP's Phil McKinney

PALO ALTO, Calif.-- HP executive Phil McKinney said that, contrary to reports, HP hasn't given up on the Windows 7-based slate or tablet computer that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer previewed at the Consumer Electronics Show back in January.

Following HP's blockbuster $1.2 billion purchase of Palm earlier this year, there was wide speculation the company was ready to dump Windows 7 in favor of a slate line based on Palm's WebOS.

HP (NYSE: HPQ) did in fact say at the time of the Palm acquisition that it planned to extend WebOS beyond smartphones to slate devices.

But McKinney, CTO of HP's Personal Systems Group, made it clear the company is still committed to Windows.

"We will ship the Windows slate with Windows 7 to the enterprise," McKinney said during a Q&A session following his talk here at the AlwaysOn conference at Stanford University on Wednesday. "The WebOS is for our consumer slate."

The market for tablet/slate devices has exploded with the arrival of Apple's iPad, which has already sold millions of units and continues to sell basically as fast as the company can make them. While Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) has marketed the iPad to consumers, there hasn't been much slate activity on the enterprise side except in niche areas where the devices have been used for years.

But Cisco recently announced plans to deliver a tablet computer called the Cius (pronounced See Us) that's targeted specifically at the enterprise with collaboration and communications features. The first limited shipments are scheduled for later this year, but Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) said the Cius wouldn't be broadly available till next year.

In an interview with InternetNews.com McKinney said HP isn't ready to announce a ship date for the Windows 7 slate. The original consumer version had been expected to ship in time for the holiday shopping season.

"The slate came out of a research effort that's been going on at HP for many years," he said. "This is not just something we're jamming in from an Asian manufacturer."

McKinney said he expects the enterprise slate to be of interest to specific industries including healthcare and retail. "There's a lot of interest in the enterprise for a slate that can run applications locally, particularly now that Windows 7 is gaining a lot of ground there," he said.

Apple offers both a Wi-Fi and 3G model of the iPad, but McKinney said HP will primarily sell a Wi-Fi version with 3G available for customers who want it. "That's the primary use model, Wi-Fi, and tethering the device to other hardware is also going to be important," he said.

David Needle is the West Coast bureau chief at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.