iPad beats competition before they even make it to market?

It will come as no surprise to those that know me that my opinion of the iPad seems to differ from the rest of the population. To me it is merely an oversized iPhone and I need one like I need someone mugging me for £500. A pure luxury device that would be fine on a coffee table in a wealthy persons house as a show off device but to the everyday tech I just don’t see what it brings that my current phone does not… apart from not being able to make/receive calls. Anyway, back on subject.

It seems there are changes afoot at HP and Microsoft with their iPad competitors both effectively being cancelled – at least in their current forms. HP appears to be waiting for their recent buyout of Palm to put a custom OS on it due to the power requirements of the previously planned/demoed Windows7, while Microsoft have just announced that their Courier project has been cancelled. They never officially announced it as a project that was going to be released to market and I can’t say I’m surprised about the cancellation. It would almost certainly become another iPad type item that people just don’t need and they are too far behind on this cycle.

On that note, I’m quite sad that HP have cancelled theirs as it was based on a full windows install. I like to think it could have actually been useful as an ultraportable with easy touch based input while mobile, that you could also plug in at your desk and use as a PC.

Oh well.