HP promises to deliver HP Slate (a tablet device) in 2010, and this device had been shown at CES 2010.  HP wants HP Slate to fill in the gap between the e-reader such as Kindle and the netbook.  E-readers are great, but these don’t have the capability of showing rich media such as videos and colored texts similar to magazines; tablets could do all of that!  HP Slate could have came out two years earlier, but HP decided if they had delivered HP Slate in 2008, the cost for HP Slate would have been outrageous for consumers.  2010 is a perfect environment for HP Slate as Windows 7 is available in store with touch awareness capability, hardware are cheaper, and so the combination of cheaper costs of hardware and technology allows HP Slate to target consumers with the right price (affordable HP Slate).  HP Slate is going to have some fun in competing against Apple’s upcoming tablet and Dell’s tablet.  No doubt if the tablet trend is working, other tech companies will also jump on the bandwagon.