HP teases with its Slate

HP has dribbled out some more Slate information as a kind of counter-point to Apple's Oscar night TV advertisement for the iPad. It says the Slate will run Windows 7 and will support Flash (a jab at Apple's rejection of the video format) and will do all manner of things better than thei Pad can.

The company has released a video (on Flash of course) and a supporting blog mention, but there's not a lot of detail: just a few video snippets of the thing in action and some claims in the blog by Phil McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer for HP’s personal system group.

It seems HP is determined to have its voice heard above the Apple marketing machine as it reaches its juddering final spin cycle.

And HP won't be the only Apple-challenger in this emerging market. A smattering of Android devices are expected over the next 6 months or so, as is the arrival of PC heavyweight Dell which is promising a "family" of devices this year.

The arrival of more pads and slates should also enliven further the seemingly endless discussion of the past year over whether/when/how mobile operators, where they don't already, should introduce explicit volume-based pricing for mobile broadband.

At this point one is entitled to ask: Why the debate? If the need is so pressing, why don't operators just introduce volume charging for dongles and other 'all you can eat' arrangements if these are proving to be so bandwidth-gobbling?

One reason, I suspect, is that once you set a price for mobile data you're on a slippery slope to some very bracing price competition. Data pricing will more quickly become the pivot point of inter-operator competition, especially as users begin using multiple 3G devices and want them all rounded up on the same bill. Then the price per gig (or however it's expressed) becomes a huge part of the user buying/contract decision.

In an ideal world, operators would actually prefer to go the other way and obfuscate the real cost of mobile broadband service by rolling it into the lifetime cost of the device being used and a profit share of the digital goods being bought with it.