Potentially clearing up some confusion regarding HP‘s intentions concerning its Slate tablet, HP Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley said yesterday at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference that the Slate would be an enterprise focused device running a Microsoft operating system. The announcement follows PC World’s discovery a device called the “Slate 500” is being listed on HP’s web site.
HP has registered the trademark PalmPad, suggesting the company will release two different products: the enterprise focused, Windows based Slate and a consumer focused, Palm branded device.
The Slate was demonstrated at CES in January by Steve Ballmer, but has had a turbulent history since. Rumors of its demise started immediately after HP’s purchase of Palm, but HP was still listed as a partner with a forthcoming Windows tablet at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.
The announcement is good news for enterprises waiting for a Windows tablet. ASUS recently announced its Eee Pad will run Android instead of Windows, and Microsoft dropped its own Courier tablet project.
Despite being slow to reach the tablet market, Windows 7 sales have been strong – Microsoft announced it has sold 175 million licenses. Microsoft also reported a record fourth quarter.
