HP Slate will support Windows 7 and Flash unlike Apple iPad

HP Slate...sometime in 2010

HP stays the course with its Slate that is aimed at the 95% of computer users who like the Windows space. With a 9.5″ capacitive touch screen, the Slate will be a rich media tablet with browsing. HP has released a teaser video which follows the break. Delivery date is some time 2010. Price is unknown. With Apple shipping the iPad next month, HP won’t be long coming out of the gate. It’s always good to let a competitor show their hand first and gauge market reaction.

The HP Slate will use the Atom processor but hints at some kind of accelerated Flash video, making it a big competitor to the iPad which won’t support Flash. That means the HP Slate will be compatible with almost all of the videos on the Internet and the iPad will only be compatible with a few that are H.264 format.

Ironically, Apple got caught using Flash videos in an advertisement for the iPad. Why? Because H.264 video on the iPad will probably be really slow, like watching YouTube (H.264) on an iPhone. 3G phone systems are not going to serve videos with anything resembling desktop performance. It will be like going back 10 years for video speed.

In this video, Adobe explains and demonstrates Flash working on the HP Slate.