HP Slate 2 Follows the Slate 500, Still Windows, Still Expensive

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I kid you not, this is actually official, as HP issued a press release to confirm everything. The company, which until recently toyed with the idea of spinning off its PC business and ditch the TouchPad and any webOS future development has decided to launch a new iteration of a tablet we thought long dead, the highly unpopular HP Slate.

Yes, I know the device has been popular with some enterprise buyers and to the three of you that purchased it – okay, you were more than three – I don’t blame what you did, you bought the device best suited for you at the time. If it’s still the best tablet choice that’s great, but what is HP thinking?

Why is the company investing resources in a device that’s going nowhere. Correct me if I’m wrong but this Slate 2 won’t sell in as many units the TouchPad sold, even if the latter was significantly discounted. The HP Slate 2 runs Windows 7 and costs $699. It will be available worldwide later this month so that plenty of international buyers can ignore it.

Those of you who read Steve Jobs’ biography will remember Walter Isaacson focus on Jobs’ interest in creating new devices and changing the world in his own manner, with money being a secondary, if not an even more distant, object. But HP is not like that, their goal is to make money off of their products. So why launch the Slate 2?

The company has already confirmed it will sell Windows 8 tablets next year, but that might happen only at some point next fall. Until then HP probably needs a tablet for the enterprise masses that don’t want to deal with an iPad or an Android tablet, so that’s where the Slate 2 comes in.

Now, assuming Meg Whitman knows what she’s doing, let’s give this device a chance and look at its specs and features:

• Weight: 1.5 pounds
• 8.9-inch touchscreen display
• Swype keyboard
• Stylus support
• Intel Atom Z670 processor with mSATA SSM technology
• Up to 6 hours battery life
• “increased performance for business customers”
• front-facing VGA webcam
• 3-megapixel camera on the back
• SRS Premium sound
• SD card slot
• USB 2.0 and HDMI port
• Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, 3G connectivity
• Windows 7.

Anyone really interested in the Slate 2? Really?