Without a giant vein popping out of his forehead, Ballmer is remaining fairly calm about the situation, confident that Microsoft will be hugely competitive in the tablet and slate market. In addressing a group of students, staff, and journalists at the London School of Economics, though, Ballmer did not make any mention of specific hardware or manufacturers.

We think that HP (and Palm) are more inclined to focus on the webOS tablet first, so they might not have a Windows offering right away. Samsung is busy with Android and the Galaxy Tab. LG is taking a “wait and see” approach. So, who is going to make the Windows tablet? Asus? Acer?

Either way, Christmas is only a couple months away, so it won’t be long before we see something for certain. Based on how things are going, a version of Windows Phone 7 would probably be a better idea than a full Windows 7 build.

[Retuers]

The post Ballmer promises Windows-powered tablets before end of year appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

ExoPC Windows 7 Tablet Device

The Apple iPad isn’t the only giant touchscreen tablet device, you know. We’ve been hearing about the ExoPC handheld for some time, but now we’ve finally managed to find a hands-on video with the slate. Based on what we see, it looks awfully impressive.

Set to be showcased at Computex Taipei early next month, the ExoPC “slate” is a tablet device that comes powered by a full build of Windows 7. Despite using a true desktop operating system as its platform, the slate actually has a pretty good bootup time and the video playback is “flawless.”

It’ll be interesting to see how these Windows-fueled tablets will compete against the polish and marketing prowess of the iPad, but as is the case with all things electronic, competition is good. You know, especially since the HP Slate is dead in the water (for now).

They haven’t released any pricing information, but we do hear that they’ll have four different models available for purchase. The ExoPC slate will start out with a 32GB WiFi version as the entry-level unit, and then get bumped to include 32GB WiFi+3G/GPS, 64GB WiFi, and 64GB WiFi+3G/GPS.

EXCLUSIF Prototype ExoPC en mains! http://bdgk.in/vc from Alexandre Vallières-Lagacé on Vimeo.

The post Video: ExoPC slate with Windows 7 demonstrated appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

HP Slate Tablet PC has Flash Mobile

One thing that has remained constant is the keyboard. But it looks like your keyboard will also become a historical artifact just like desktop computers such as the Amiga, Zx Spectrum and even the Atari ST with the popular tablet PC’s making waves in the market.

Growing up in the 80’s and early 90’s, you would fondly remember the above obsolete but classic desktop machines.

We may just end up adding the modern desktop machines to that list. It’s the 21st century, the year twenty-ten. You don’t need to be able to afford the Optimus Maximus keyboard, but what is affordable is Apple’s iPad and HP’s Slate. With touch screens and virtual keyboards that make traditional keyboards look like a child’s toy.

Apple has openly expressed its dislike for Adobe’s mobile version of the Flash program calling its stability questionable. So what did Apple do? No, it did not contact Microsoft asking for licensing rights to Silver Light. That wouldn’t have been prudent because HP’s tablet the “Slate” runs Windows 7.

Apple’s solution? It dropped support for Flash altogether from the iPad.

HP has capitalized on the situation and their new demo video for the Slate is very similar to Apple’s commercials for the iPad. But HP on their Voodoo blog just recently posted an entry dubbed “The HP’s Slate Device Runs The Complete Internet — Including Flash!” taking a stab at Apple and informing consumers that its own product provides a superior internet experience than Apple’s iPad does.

Talk about kicking an apple when it falls off a tree!

The post Tablet Wars: HP ridicules Apple’s iPad as an incomplete internet experience appeared first on Mobile Magazine.