"With this slate product, you're getting a full Web browsing experience in the palm of your hand," said Phil McKinney, HP's VP and chief technical officer for its Personal Systems Group.

McKinney said HP's yet-to-be-named tablet PC will support Adobe's Flash multimedia format. "A big bonus for the slate product is that, being based on Windows 7, it offers full Adobe support," said McKinney.

To prove his point, McKinney posted a video of the HP tablet in action. Similar to the iPad commercial that debuted during Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast, the video shows a user navigating his way around the device through a series of simple hand gestures.

It also shows it being used as a video player, an e-reader, and as a navigational tool. HP has yet to provide specific information, such as pricing and release dates, for its slate PC.
With HP, Acer, Microsoft and others planning tablet computers, Apple may not have the field to itself for long after it ships the iPad next month.

 

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer demonstrated a prototype HP tablet powered by Windows 7 in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and promised that more such products are in the works.