HP Slate Looks More And More Like iPad Rival

The Apple (AAPL) iPad tablet computer looks like it will launch into a market where it has no rivals. The Amazon (AMZN) Kindle is not a PC at all. It is underpowered and has limited software for anything but reading books.

HP (HPQ) made it clear through a series of demonstrations yesterday that its Slate could be a formidable competitor to the Apple machine

HP showed that its new flat computer, which runs Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 7, can browse the web as well as the iPad can. It also uses the ubiquitous Flash video software that the iPad does not support. That means the iPad will not give customers easy access to some multimedia websites.

The Slate has not been officially launched and HP has not given prices. Early reviews of the product praise its touchscreen capability and its video fidelity.

Apple still has a huge disadvantage as it launches any personal computer. By most measure its has no more than 8% of the US market. Windows-powered PCs have the rest. The means that if Dell (DELL), HP, Lenovo, and Acer come to market with competitive tablets and Amazon upgrades the Kindle’s processor power, Apple will be caught in a crossfire.

Douglas A. McIntyre