CES 2011: HP Enters the Tablet Ring
With this much hype surrounding a tablet, you'd think that it came from atop Mount Sinai with a little less than a dozen laws on it. It seems that Palm and Hewlett-Packard have decided to enter the already crowded tablet market, and early schematics of their iPad-like product have already hit the Internet. HP joins a fight with Apple and Google? Let the games begin!
According to Fox News, who secured the exclusive on the HP tablet blueprints, the PalmPad is about the same size and weight as the iPad. However, thanks to features such as HDMI and USB 3.0 ports, the PalmPad seems more widely compatible with other devices than its Apple rival. Additionally, HP's tablet will run a Microsoft operating system, putting Android and iOS into a three-way fight for market dominance.
Or is it a four-way fight? RIM is almost certainly going to deliver a BlackBerry tablet sooner rather than later, creating a royal rumble of tablet formats, sizes, prices, operating systems, capabilities and software. Over at InformationWeek, Eric Zeman wonders if that presents too much choice to consumers, and postulates that without a serious showing next year, Windows and RIM may find themselves pushed out of the market by early entrants Google and Apple .
Only a couple more weeks, and we'll be able to judge firsthand which tablet reigns supreme.
