2 Birds with 1 iPad

Today was a big day in the tablet realm.

Steve Jobs and Shantanu Narayen, the respective CEOs of Apple and Adobe, had a pissing match where they took each other to task on their respective platforms and business models. An analysis of Jobs' open letter and Narayen's rebuttal can be found here.

Then came news that Microsoft had killed its Courier project before it even gave birth to it, with people whispering that it was vaporware, or given the benefit of the doubt, a concept video.

Now lastly, it's RUMORED that HP has killed off the impending Slate product. HP's purchase of Palm raises the possibility that the Slate could end up running on Palm's webOS, or maybe even on the Android platform, rather than deal with the dissatisfaction of Windows 7 running on it. The article also indicates that HP may even pass on the Intel platform, stealing a page from Apple in both respects.

If true, I would give HP a thumbs-up for both moves by thinking out of the Wintel box. Mobile devices require batteries that can last at least a whole day, if not longer, under more use than a wireless phone, but less use than a laptop. Intel processors have not shown to be power-efficient enough for mobile devices, nor has Windows 7 shown to be able to manage power for those same devices. Not saying that there's something wrong with Windows 7 nor Intel, but we are getting into the realm of consumer electronic devices. Hardware and software have to be one with each other and not act as independent units, and long battery life is an expectation, not a bonus.

What better OS to put on a mobile device than an OS designed to be on a device with lower power consumption requirements and a native touch interface? Well, short of iPhone OS, webOS is a great pickup for HP.