HP may be “killing” the Slate to get out of licensing agreements it had with Microsoft for Windows 7

A day after announcing the purchase of Palm, HP was rumored to be killing the Slate which was to be released in June. Microsoft had announced the Slate project back in January just ahead of Apple’s announcement of the iPad. So why would HP be killing it now, just one month away? HP insiders are rumored to be saying that it was because Windows 7 ran too slow on it, but the timing is just too coincidental. One of the biggest reasons HP bought Palm was for their webOS, which would give them full control over the operating system and reduce their relationship (read: expenses) with Microsoft.

Legal Tactics

HP more than likely had legal licensing agreements lined up with Microsoft for the Slate since January, long before HP knew they would be acquiring their own operating system. Killing the project is equivalent to eliminating someone’s position instead of firing them outright. The result is the same, but the legalities of the maneuver are different. In the same way, if the agreement with Microsoft was for the Slate then all HP would have to do is kill the name and make an end run around the legal agreement. Expect a ‘phoenix’ version of the Slate reborn with webOS coming later this year.

5/12/2010 UPDATE: HP rumored to be launching the slate under the codename, Hurricane, in the third quarter of 2010. Read more.

On April 28th HP announced the acquisition of Palm for $1.2 billion. Nokia had passed on the opportunity and Lenovo was rumored to be considering it so it was a bit of a surprise when HP came out as the new owner.

So why would HP want to buy Palm? Aside from the brand name, Palm did not have a lot going for it lately. Market share has been declining for years and Palm’s hail Mary pass with the Pre and Pixie PDA phones failed to gain back much of that share. But HP already has its own line of PDAs, which run flavors of Microsoft operating systems. Palm had its own proprietary operating system, webOS, which HP now owns. Look for HP to leverage this OS on all of its mobile devices from PDAs to tablet PCs. HP’s new slate PC was to run Windows 7, but we may see a webOS version too.

Competition

WebOS already ranks fourth behind Microsoft, Apple, and Google (Android and ChromeOS) for operating systems so HP has a lot of work to do, but unlike Microsoft or even Apple, HP has a large base of mobile devices from music players to PDAs to phones to tablets to put webOS on, which could catapult the OS’ popularity and market share worldwide. One thing is for sure, HP will now be able to control their own software, which they have never been able to do before and which pits them in the company of players like Apple, which uses the iPhone OS for the Iphone, iTouch, and iPad.