HP and ARM are ganging-up on Apple’s iPad, introducing new videos highlighting the tablet’s lack of Flash support and warning the Cupertino, Calif. company may not have the stage to itself much longer. Indeed, the chipmaker says there could be at least 50 iPad-like tablets introduced just this year.
HP’s “slate” device, with Windows 7, will be able to display the “complete Internet — including Flash,” the PC maker announced this week. The company also introduced a number of videos highlighting its device’s compatibility with Adobe’s Flash.
Apple has called Flash “too buggy” to be included in the iPad, while Adobe has defended its technology, saying Apple’s refusal to include Flash will let the Cupertino, Calif. company protect its revenue. Whoever is correct, HP is making hay of the dispute, releasing videos to counteract the iPad’s Oscar introduction.
In the video, released on YouTube, an Adobe executive, Alan Tam, shows Flash content running on the HP device, as well as an MTV clip and a Spongebob Squarepants game.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in January gave a highly-expected, but extremely brief glimpse of the HP device in a public appearance. Ballmer, who’s company powers the device, noted the iPad-like touch-screen. Ballmer released no specifics, such as name, price or availability, leaving with as many questions unanswered as were when he stepped onto the Las Vegas stage.
Along with the frontal assault from HP on the iPad’s lack of Flash, chipmaker ARM said Apple may not have the tablet platform to itself for long. Roy Chen, ARM’s global mobile computing ODM manager, said more than 50 tablet devices could appear in 2010.
Chen made the statement while in Taipei to unveil two tablets powered by Google’s Android OS: a 7-inch device from Compaq and a smaller product named the Armadillo. Like the iPad, both devices use ARM cores. Apple reportedly paid $1 billion to create the iPad’s A4 processor, the result of the company’s $278 million acquisition of chip designer P.A. Semi.
[via AppleInsider]
