HP Slate Marketing Plan

There is a new trend in the personal computer industry towards portable touch screen personal computing devices. PC companies have identified a gap between the traditional laptop computer and the smart phone. Consumer’s desire for fully functional Internet that can be taken anywhere has helped to drive this trend. The technology to create this device has been available for several years, but up until recently the cost of such devices has been prohibitive. Due to advances in IC process technology, touch screen displays, flash memory, and rechargeable batteries, the tablet PC can now be produced at a very attractive price point. Additionally, the infrastructure for high speed wireless internet is now in place thanks to the rise of the smart phone. The combination of highly functional hardware and mobile connectivity make the tablet PC a very enticing proposition for consumers. One such tablet PC is the HP Slate. This product was announced at the CES trade show in Las Vegas in January 2010. It is due to be available to consumers later in 2010. The HP Slate features a 10-inch multi-touch display, WIFI and 3G wireless connectivity, built-in web-cam, and a mobile version of Windows 7 operating system. When the device was announced at CES, Steve Balmer of Microsoft described the Slate as, “More powerful than a phone, almost as powerful as a PC”, and designed for, “reading, surfing the web, entertainment on the go.