HP now says Slate tablet will be geared toward enterprise market

The never-ending saga of the HP Slate tablet took another turn today, when HP Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley told a tech conference that what was once thought to be an iPad competitor is going to be targeted to the enterprise.

It appears that the Windows 7-based tablets that HP has planned (if there are any more than the Slate 500 in the works) will be marketed to businesses, and its tablets running webOS (acquired with HP's purchase of Palm a couple of months ago) will be focused on the consumer market. That's probably good news to Apple, since there's no indication that a webOS tablet is imminent, giving the iPad more time to increase its hold on the niche.

It may not be as good news for Microsoft, since a major manufacturer like HP has decided to avoid releasing a Windows 7-based tablet to the wider consumer audience. It also keeps those who've been waiting for an alternative tablet in a holding pattern, eager for a big name company to release details on an Android tablet that will come out sooner than later and finally challenge the iPad in the mass market.

[Via Engadget]