TechCrunch:

Hewlett-Packard has killed off its much ballyhooed Windows 7 tablet computer, says a source who’s been briefed on the matter.

The reason? HP isn’t satisfied with Windows 7 as a tablet OS. I wonder if Palm’s webOS has anything to do with it. HP may also be planning to ditch Intel CPUs as well due to their power-hungry nature. Will there be a bidding war for ARM?

The Daily Show’s Jon Steward chimes in on the next-gen iPhone report by Gizmodo. Apple = Appholes:

Apple‘s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is when we should expect the next-generation iPhone to be announced. We’ve all seen the stolen iPhone prototype (read iPhone HD: More Details) but what I’m interested in watching is Steve Jobs doing a proper introduction on one of the days between the 7th and 11th of June at Moscone West in San Francisco.

Massive: 13 feet by 10 feet or 4 meters by 3 meters. Whatever the purpose of this massive curved plasma display may be it is hugely effective. The border between the panels look very thin and looks quite good. My guess at the manufacturer is Panasonic.

ZDNet: Shoot. I was hoping Microsoft had the balls to actually build something exactly like the Courier concept. Frank Shaw, VP of Corporate Communications at Microsoft:

At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity. The “Courier” project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.

Yeah, sure. The Courier concept is one of the best ideas Microsoft has thought up in decades. I would like to meet the guy who made the decision to kill Courier, on a technicality no less: incubation period is over. Here is hoping that HP will pick up where Microsoft left off and make a sweet dual-screen Courier-like “notebook” using webOS.

And here’s the long version as to why Adobe’s Flash is wrong for mobile devices. A few points from Thoughts on Flash by Steve Jobs:

• Flash is a closed system, not open and is controlled by Adobe. HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, etc. are open.
• Flash is not reliable, not secure and requires an enormous amount of hardware capabilities. “We have routinely asked Adobe to show us Flash performing well on a mobile device, any mobile device, for a few years now. We have never seen it.” Steve also mentioned that “Flash is the number on reason Macs crash.” And that is the number one reason why Flash needs to get my permission to run every time.
• Flash is based on mouse input. So in a smartphone world where the finger replaces the mouse most applications will need to be rewritten. Steve makes it clear: “If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?”
• Dependence on Adobe is bad. Here’s Steve again: “If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features.”

Michael Gartenberg:

Like Steve, I have not seen Flash work on a mobile device. That doesn’t mean that it can’t or won’t. Adobe needs to not respond to Apple with words but rather actions and showcase shipping devices and how well they can run Flash.

Ditto.

According to the Chosun Ilbo the next-gen iPhone, which I will call iPhone HD (read iPhone HD, will make use of a 5 megapixel camera (read 2010 iPhone: 5 Megapixel, 1080p 30fps Video Recording) built by LG Innotek. Production has already started at the company’s Gumi plant and will enter into mass production in 2H’10.

US$1.2 billion is the price. Surprising but not totally. Remember HP’s iPAQ, functional and somewhat popular PDAs, way back when. HP’s Todd Bradley, EVP for HP’s Personal Systems Group and previous Palm CEO: “The attractiveness of the smartphone market is compelling to us.” Jamie Townsend of Townhall Investment Research:

In our view, the recent announced purchase of the company by Hewlett Packard will be completed without any other bidders. We do not believe that Hewlett Packard will be able to either revive Palm’s current poor sales of the Pre and Pixi or, that eventual new handsets incorporating WebOS will represent a meaningful new competitive threat to other handset vendors.

Quite pessimistic. HP has very strong ties with the enterprise and has a huge retail presence globally and especially in the US. I think HP can carve out a small niche in the smartphone market that can capture share in both consumer and enterprise markets. I think both Apple and RIM are probably looking carefully at this development since HP’s enormous resources cannot be ignored.

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