The lack of distribution in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific could give the advantage to Apple, which will make its product available worldwide in roughly 50 days. Despite being the world's largest PC maker, HP is being cautious with the AirLife, said Jay Chou, a research analyst at IDC. The limited availability through one carrier means it is testing the product before rolling it out worldwide.

"Western Europe is the biggest market for [telecom] operators to bundle netbooks through. It seems like a likely place to test out the waters with regards to smartbooks," Chou said. Netbook shipments have grown in Europe as more telecom operators bundle low-cost laptops with wireless contracts, Chou said.

Apple also has an advantage with the familiar iPhone software interface in the iPad that users may find easier to adapt to, said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research.

Smartbooks have a folding design, like netbooks, and use the Linux operating system. Linux has seen slower adoption rates on netbooks compared to Windows, partly because fewer applications are available and because of hardware compatibility issues.

However, HP's AirLife will use Google's Linux-based Android OS, which has some cache and has found wider acceptance in the mobile-phone community. Android's growing popularity could help lift the smartbook segment, Chou said.