iPad VS HP Slate: Price Wars

Engadget has what looks like to be an internal slide for HP employees regarding the Slate, pricing, strategy and a side-by-side comparison of the iPad. Is it a fair match? Is it a match at all? Just how does the Slate stack up against Steve Job’s brain child? Read on…

To be fair, the comparisons of the iPad VS the Slate aren’t comparing Apples to Apples, because the experience on both devices isn’t the same. But HP’s leaked memo seems less concerned about the experience, and more concerned about the hardware. It details the iPad and the Slate side by side with a list of hardware components. Red highlights indicate the iPad’s advantage, while green highlights indicate the Slate’s advantage. The only things — acording to HP — that the iPad has on the Slate is battery life, wireless N support, a slightly larger resolution screen, and — what’s this? Price.

That’s right. The Slate is priced at  $549 for the 32GB flash storage version or $599 if you want a 64GB version. The Slate’s winnings? HP sees a media card reader, a camera, expandable storage via a media card reader, and HDMI out with 1080p as winners against the iPad. (I suppose you can lump in that $549 gets you double the data for $50 bucks, versus the $100 difference between a 32GB and 16GB iPad.)

Just to be fair, the iPad has video out, just not 1080p via HDMI. You can get 720p via component. There isn’t a camera, or expandable storage, so obviously HP can tout these features exclusively. But the real difference when you boil it down is the user experience. And the HP Slate will include Windows 7 Home Premium, complete with a stylus.

So will that mean you’ll just have a sleek device with a clunky Windows experience? Well, the leaked  slide contains a reference to an “HP touch-optimized UI,” so maybe the boys at HP have been working on a special touch-layer on top of Windows.

But still, the issue of experience remains. Will there also be HP touch-optimized Apps? That’s a question worth asking. Arguably, the iPad has the upper hand with a sleek user interface, and a ton of apps developers only have to make “HD” or “XL.” Of course, the Slate’s ability to have multiple apps open at once will be instantly appealing, just — will the device be? When people pick it up, will they fall in love, or wonder what’s so special about it? The Slate is actually lighter than the iPad, but only slightly. I attribute that to plastic instead of aluminum, and that might make or break a deal when someone picks up both of them side-by-side.

Again, it boils down to a wait-and-see. But one thing is for certain; HP has their cross-hairs on Apple.

But will they miss?

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