A return to normalcy.

I once had an Apple Newton.

It was given to me by my very good buddy Kabyr as a birthday gift eons ago; back in 1993, I believe.

I liked the device, however limited it was. It was probably the first product that had me liking touch-enabled devices.

Fast forward to a few years ago, and I had an epiphany while talking with Terri Stratton, editor-in-chief of MobilePCWorld, TheTabletPC.net, and until recently, a Microsoft MVP for Mobile Devices.

It was at the launch of the HP tx1000 Tablet PC, and at that time, I saw touch computing not only coming to the masses, but also becoming so inexpensive as to become a requirement for notebook purchases. I also liked the Motion Computing C5; however, that device was priced by a foreigner to this planet/reality.

Today, thanks to HP in computers, and Apple in mobiles, touch-based computing has reached the masses.

Additionally, with the iPhone and iPod Touch, Apple undertook what Microsoft totally forgot to do: educate the masses as to the benefits of touch-based computing. For this, I have to give Apple major props, and I did, right here. The introduction of the iPod Touch, initially derided as a brain dead (communications-wise) device, now makes sense from the touch standpoint.

HP, on the other hand, uses Microsoft's operating systems to great success in several market segments, mobiles being one of them. Taking what they have been given, they have market-leading products, especially in the commercial sector. Their lines of touch-enabled devices can trace their provenance back to 1984 (not a typo!).

It should not then be a surprise that those two companies are at the forefront of the coming battle in slate-format computing.

The state of the battle is thus:

Preamble: Apple, as it is wont to, seeds the blogosphere and their external PR crew (posing as actual journalists at fishwraps) with rumors of a life-affirming new device with slate form factor. While still a rumor, it is crowned by the usual suspects: WSJ and NYT as ‘The One’.

Opening Gambit: HP. On January 6, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer introduced the HP Slate. This slate-format device runs Windows 7 as the operating system, and basically nothing more is known at this stage. However, this is a real product, running a real operating system.

At that point in time, the HP Slate totally deflates the sails of the yet-unannounced Apple product, glossed the iTabletPC by Yours Truly.

In a luncheon meeting with Phil McKinney, Chief Technology Officer of HP’s PSG, I asked how come it seemed incredibly fortuitous that the HP Slate was presented just as Apple was winding into their iPadlet PC pitch.

His reply was a beauty: It takes several years to create a product such as the HP Slate.

My translation, since he is a gentleman: do those morons think we just glommed on to the slate in a couple of months?

Good answer.

Think about it, HP has had a slate since, like forever, and this is obviously a refinement of that device, using a truly multi touch-aware operating system, and hopefully, the beautiful HP TouchSmart UI.

Next move: Last week, Apple unveiled the iPadlet PC, officially known as the iPad.

No matter what, you have to admire Apple for first creating an ecosystem around the iPadlet PC, before actually announcing the product. What I also am envious about, and wish Microsoft would find a teachable moment, is what Apple does around any product launch: they

• shut down all sources of rumors. Microsoft leaks like sieve. Even when it is obvious, Microsoft leaks are inelegant, and seem annoyingly contrived, a definite turnoff!
• always have well thought out usage scenarios for the consumers with products that actually wow the proleteriat, not a bunch of geeks in an auditorium. Think about this: Apple product launches always have the one or two app intros that make you want to go wait in line for them.
• have an enviable corporate-wide product nomenclature that produces catchy monikers.
• have a demand-generation word-of-mouth system employing mouthpieces at the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times who live to do nothing but deify Steve jobs, and beatify every product that comes from #1 Infinite Loop, in Cupertino.
• make the WIIFM Factor the Number One feature of the product. They make the products truly aspirational!

Building on their strength in touch, Apple, as I had postulated here, used the iPhone operating system in order to make sure that applications are available gfor the iPadlet PC from Day 1.

That is big.

Despite all that, as currently configured, the iPadlet PC is just a content consumption device.

My thanks to fyiguy (Steve Hughes, Editor-in-Chief of Boston Pocket PC.com) for making that distinction, an issue which I had been striving to put into words until he did.

Again, the iPadlet PC is just a content-consumption device, while the forthcoming HP Tablet PC will be a full-featured, slate-format PC.

That said, being a consumption-only device is not necessarily a bad thing. Especially when you have a pool of over 140,000 apps to draw from.

What must also be made clear is that Apple, by controlling all aspects of the iPadlet PC even down to the CPU, had created what is actually a PC-like consumer electronics device, in the same vein as a piece of stereo equipment from [insert name here]/any manufacturer. Silicon Valley Watcher and former Financial Times reporter Tom Foremski has an article on this very subject here, and an analysis of what it means here.

On the other hand, the HP Slate runs Windows 7…which means that it has a pool of apps several logarithmic levels larger than the puny 140K figure always cited by St. Steve of Jobs.

It is, first and foremost, a personal computer.

It should run PC software. It will ride the Windows 7 wave.

Moreover, as an added benefit, it should usher in a new era of slate computing software leading to new and incredibly rich touch-computing scenarios.

Remember that: it is a computer. Not a glorified big-screen computer or worse yet, a phone companion.

The HP Slate is real!

From all the information I have been able to glean, the HP Slate will be a lightweight computer.

In fact, the only other device I can see that might come close to it in functionality is the Lenovo U1.

Now though, the ball is squarely in HP’s court.

Can HP deliver?

I do not see why not.

Whatever the case, I believe Apple has thrown down the gauntlet as far as pricing is concerned. If the HP Slate is priced without regards to the iPadlet PC, it will fail. Woefully, too.

HP is too smart a company to do something so silly.

I will wait for the HP Slate, and I will be urging all my clients to do the same as well.

The HP Slate will be a winner for my clients, and by proxy, my companies and I.

The HP Slate will be my slate computing choice.

Believe that!

I do not use any Apple products in my daily life.

None whatsoever*.

We do, however, have of copy of about every Apple product back at LogikLabs for comparative testing. Yes, I do not pull opinions out of my.........

* That may change if the forthcoming Windows Mobile 7 does not live up to expectations.