Not everyone buys into the Apple mantra of Steve Jobs knows best so what choice do they have

HP Slate, the iPad for the rest of us?

The hype and excitement surrounding the new Apple iPad is hard to ignore. Will your friends have one and look cool while you don’t? Will you be missing out on happiness without one?

Yes your friends will look cool. If $600 is the price of cool, go get one. Unfortunately happiness is not found in gadgets. Happiness is more likely to be found contemplating the Buddha or in making more real friends.

Another source of cool, portable computing is the HP Slate, which is scheduled to ship in two months. How does it stack up to the iPad? The HP Slate is what the iPad isn’t but they are not hitting the same market. Pricing of the Slate is expected to be slightly less than the iPad.

HP has released another new teaser video. The Slate looks good, if you want a tablet computer.

The first thing that really matters about the Slate is that it will play Flash videos which is what most of the world uses and the iPad won’t. While it’s gutsy for Steve Jobs to force H.264 encoded video down everyone’s throats, he is pushing his luck. This is my usual complaint about Apple. The whole company is founded on the cult of Steve Jobs knows best. Join the Mormons and buy an Apple.

Camera

The Slate has front and back facing cameras. The clip demonstrates Skype videoconferencing. The iPad has no camera.

USB ports

The iPad is a closed system. The Slate has standard USB ports to connect it to the world.

SD memory expansion

Notice the fingers holding an SD memory card? The Slate has an SD port. The iPad comes with whatever memory you purchase and cannot be upgraded. Storage on the iPad is non-existent. Trying to create an iPad document and store it will be a frustrating experience. You have to mail it to yourself and retrieve it the same way.

Software

The Slate will run a version of Windows 7 and supposedly the apps you are used to using in Windows. The iPad will have tens of thousands of cool apps from the iPhone heritage. It’s a version of computing light (iPad) or medium (Slate).

The iPad is a media consumption device. Subscribe to Netflix or YouTube, the Wall Street Journal and other publications in whatever way Apple decides to control your access. The HP Slate is more likely to be both a media consumption and creation devices. It may have utility in more than consumer markets.

The iPhone as a descendant of the iPod, the first Apple product that crossed the line from Apple-world to general consumer use. It’s hard to predict if the iPad will do the same thing for Apple or if it will be a retreat to the Apple-world.

It wasn’t that long ago that Apple dropped proprietary hardware and started using Intel chips and standard video cards. That re-invigorated a computer line that had shrinking market share. Trying to attempt proprietary hardware/software again may be Steve Jobs inclination but it is not the way the computer market evolves.

In the end people will gravitate to either the iPad or a Slate-like device because it works for them. How many people want to carry, load media, charge and worry about their smart phone, iPad/Slate, mp3 player, netbook and laptop? There might be room for two of those devices but not all of them.

With a story from PC World

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We’re becoming App-aholics

Will HP Slate be iPad for the rest of us