After months of stalled plans, cancelled prototypes, and speculation, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has finally unveiled their iPad killer, the HP Slate 500. HP’s new tablet—unveiled today in San Francisco and purportedly ready to ship even though its product page at Hewlett-Packard’s website is still down—runs Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows and retails for $799. The Slate 500 may mark HP’s bid to challenge Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) in the tablet space before the iPad becomes too entrenched to topple, much like the iPod did in the portable media player space last decade, but HP is not looking to capture the consumer market targeted by Samsung’s Galaxy Tab or Dell‘s (NASDAQ: DELL) 7-inch Streak. HP is instead positioning the Streak 500 to recapture the enterprise and professional market where notebook PC sales have been eroded by Apple’s tablet in recent months. HP director of business notebook marketing Carol Hess-Nickels emphasized the Slate 500’s utility for both retail and healthcare companies during the device’s debut. “It’s really a full-function PC, it runs Windows, it will run your office applications, it just so happens to be in a slate form factor.”
That slate form factor is, like the iPad, larger than Samsung and Dell’s consumer-targets tablets. The Slate 500 has an 8.9-inch screen, making it smaller than the 9.7-inch iPad though still larger than the 7-inch tablets that have begun to enter the market. Also setting it apart from other tablets on the market, HP’s new machine only supports WiFi communication, foregoing the support of 3G cellular networks run by telecoms Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), AT&T (NYSE: T), T-Mobile USA, and Sprint (NYSE: S), all of whom are rushing to establish their place in the tablet business as well. It weighs 1.5 pounds, comes with 64GB of storage, and a fully charged battery lasts for around five hours. The tablet runs on Intel‘s (NASDAQ: INTC) Atom processor, common in netbook PCs.
The Streak 500’s high price tag may seem to investors like a misstep on the part of HP in trying to compete against the iPad, whose closest model to the Streak, the WiFi-only 64GB model, retails for $100 less. HP, however, is smart to price their enterprise-targeted tablet at a higher price than the still-unnamed consumer tablet that the company also discussed during the Slate 500’s announcement. Much like their new entry in the smartphone market, the Palm Pre 2, Hewlett-Packard is leveraging the recently acquired WebOS mobile operating system in a consumer-targeted tablet with more media features than the Streak 500. HP plans to release that tablet sometime in 2011.
HP shares have been up about +2% over last week, trading above $42 since Monday. Research group Kaufman Brothers raised their price target for HP as well, up to $53.00, noting improved demand for the company’s enterprise hardware. The Slate 500 should only improve HP’s rebounding enterprise business. Investors are advised to buy now.
As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
