Toshiba uninterested as consumers
If Digitimes' sources are to be trusted, Toshiba may be abandoning production of its Windows 7 tablet (previewed at CES) and Chrome OS-based Chromebook, leaving just the Android-based Thrive in its tablet line-up. Reportedly, the former two products have now disappeared from Toshiba's latest product roadmap leading to the belief that they have either been delayed significantly, or dropped entirely.
According to industry reports, Toshiba's decision to drop the Chromebook from its roadmap is borne out of the reception to its smartbooks. Apparently Toshiba doesn't see Google's cloud OS proving significantly more popular on netbook-like Cloudbook systems than Android was on smartbooks; even despite Chrome OS having actually been designed for that purpose, where Andoid was not.
With recent talk of a new Microsoft operating system coming to tablets in the near future, it's perhaps not surprising that Toshiba would pull back on its plans to launch a Windows 7-based device - especially given the old reception other Windows 7 slates have received. The HP slate, for example, despite seeing much attention on its initial announcement, failed to gain much traction in the market, and Dell's Windows 7 tablet is now not expected to launch until autumn.
Toshiba hasn't confirmed these reports, so it is still possible that these products will see the light of day. However, although unconfirmed, the given reasoning behind the alleged decision by Toshiba has the ring of truth to it, so we'd be more surprised if these reports turned out to be inaccurate.
