All of This Week's Tablet News in a Nutshell

Here we are midway through May and Apple has already sold over a million iPads, and that was before the recent international launch into nine other countries. If there was any doubt before, it's now safe to say there exists a lucrative market for handheld tablets. The question is, who will tomorrow's players be, and what do they have planned? The answer seems to change by the week, but don't worry if you blinked, because we've stayed on top of the fast changing landscape to deliver this week's state of the tablet union. 
 
Let's get started with the juiciest news of the week.
 

Verizon and Google Team Upon on Tablet

The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon Wireless is working with Google in some way, shape, or form on a tablet to go up against Apple and AT&T. Details are nonexistent at this point, including the OS. Sure, we can say we're 99.99 percent certain it will run Android, but we wouldn't exactly be shocked if it came equipped with Google's Chrome OS, we just don't expect it to happen.
 
With the potential pairing of arguably the hottest mobile OS on the market (Android) and Verizon's 3G network which, outside of Luke Wilson, most would agree is superior to AT&T's, you're going to see the term "iPad killer" thrown around. But as Rob Pegoraro of The Washington Post points out, "it's foolish to make such a prediction of a product you haven't seen," and we have to agree.
 
And that's really all we have to say on this one. We could go on and on speculating about the hardware, release date, price point, and theoretical implications on the tablet market, but without even a shred of concrete info, it seems rather silly to do so.
 

BlackBerry Tablet Update

Early last week we reported that RIM was working on a tablet device designed to compete with the iPad in terms of battery life and functionality, and since then, we've learned that it will indeed ship with an 8.9-inch display, or so says BoyGeniusReport. According to BGR, BlackBerry's tablet will be strictly a "companion" device, which means no built-in 3G radio.
 
One interesting thing to note about RIM's tablet is that it apparently was supposed to take on Amazon's Kindle in the e-reader space, and up until recently, it was to come with a monochrome display. That's changed somewhat, and the focus now is on multimedia duties.
 

Archos 7 Home Tablet Disappoints

We've been hearing about the Archos 7 Home tablet for what seems like forever now, so we were pretty geeked to learn Engadget got its hands on one for review, at least until we read it. Underscoring Pegoraro's previously referenced line about being careful not to throw around the term "iPad killer," Engadget seemed mostly unimpressed with the Archos 7 Home device, starting with the OS. Yes, it runs Android, but it's the now-dated 1.5 version. Here are some of the other complaints:
 

• Plastic construction doesn't feel as solid as the iPad
• "Crappy" earbuds
• Narrow viewing angles
• Distracting reflections in certain lighting
• Resistive touch screen instead of capacitive
• No accelerometer
• No access to the Android Market
• So-so performance (600MHz ARM 9 processor)
  

 
On the plus side, it only runs $199, and the speakers are apparently loud. Read the full review here.
 

Intel Getting in the Game...

You didn't think Intel would really sit back and let Apple dominate the tablet market, did you? Speaking at the Intel Investor Meeting earlier this week, Intel's Mooly Eden, Vice President of PC Client Group, told those in attendance that "yes, we [Intel] are going to have tablets...stay tuned for Computex. We are going to design silicon for this category and we are going to actively participate in it."
 
While no details were given, it's not hard to figure out that Intel's Atom platform will somehow be ported to the tablet space, and if the chip maker can figure out a way to shove a dual-core chip into a power efficient tablet device, it could have a formidable contender on its hands.

...And so is MSI

Windows 7-based tablets have been dropping like flies lately, but one company who still plans to build a slate around Microsoft's latest OS is MSI. Dubbed the "Slatebook," MSI plans to show off its tablet at Computex in June. MSI is shooting for a sub-$500 price point, which will include an Intel Atom Zxx processor, 3G, Wi-Fi, e-book reader, and a content provider that's still to be determined. As for pairing Android with Nvidia's Tegra 2 platform, MSI hasn't ruled this out, but wants to see how consumers react to its first tablet before it starts thinking about a followup act. 
   

HP Makes Plans for webOS Tablet

After sticking a fork in its Windows-7 based Slate, HP will storm the market with its Hurricane tablet. Early rumors suggest this will come built around webOS, which was recently acquired by HP in the Palm deal. Other specs aren't yet known, though word on the web is that that Hurricane could blow into town as early as Q3.
 
We like the idea of a webOS-based tablet, and given the Palm acquisition, we're not at all surprised HP decided to drop the Slate. Out of all the tablets listed here, this one might have the most potential, and certainly has strong financial backing.