Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/21/hp_slate_500/
Tablet buffs sift HP site for traces of lost Slate
Post mortem remains - or sign of revival?
Posted in Tablets, 21st July 2010 13:15 GMT
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Claims that HP may have killed of its Windows 7-based 9in tablet, the Slate 500, may have been wrong.
PCWorld is lauding [1] the device's apparent return to the HP website. It has found half a dozen entries for the machine - listed as the 500-1001tu, 500-1002tu, 500-1003tu, 500-1004tu, 500-1005tu and the 500-1006tu - in HP's e-catalogue.
HP's website, today
The mag found the references in a Google cache of the page, though the page itself exists [2] and is easy to access.
The links [3] from it to the six Slate SKUs reveal what seems to be boilerplate copy for the device, touting its 8.9in screen, Windows 7 Premium OS, HP media presentation software and two cameras: one for photography, one for video chats.
All of which, the mag suggests, is a sign that the machine is a runner once more.
Except, of course, there's no evidence it ever went away. It was assumed it might when HP acquired Palm [4], and the company's attempt to register the term [5] 'PalmPad' as a trademark suggests that its sees its purchase - Palm's WebOS, essentially - as the basis for future iPad-style offerings.
But while its was speculated that this would mark the demise of the Slate 500, HP certainly never admitted as much, and its various other Slate 500-related website pages - from 'keep me informed' offers [6] to blog posts [7] - never went away.
Now, that's not evidence that the Slate 500 is still on, either - and neither is the PCWorld discovery. That page shows products associated with a mouse - not a peripheral you expect to use with a tablet - and also lists hundreds of PCs, many of them long since obsolete, such as Windows XP-based home boxes.
Clearly this is not a list HP updates regularly, and the Slate references may just be placeholders that the company forgot to remove. ®
Links
- http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/201512/hp_lists_hp_slate_500_requests_palmpad_trademark.html
- https://h10057.www1.hp.com/ecomcat/hpcatalog/specs/provisioner/05/KY619AA_link.htm
- https://h10057.www1.hp.com/ecomcat/hpcatalog/specs/provisioner/05/XB834PA.htm
- http://www.reghardware.com/2010/04/28/hp_buys_palm/
- http://www.reghardware.com/2010/07/19/palmpad/
- https://h30406.www3.hp.com/campaigns/2010/promo/HPSL/index.php?jumpid=ex_r602_go/slate
- http://h20435.www2.hp.com/t5/Voodoo-Blog/HP-s-Slate-Device-Delivers-a-Holistic-Mobile-Experience/ba-p/54735?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN