HP tells employees webOS tablet coming Q1 2011
By Nilay Patel 
posted August 10th 2010 1:47PM
posted August 10th 2010 1:47PM
We've been trying to find out when HP would launch a webOS tablet since the company first bought Palm, and we're now hearing from several trusted sources that it'll be calendar Q1 2011. We're told Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley mentioned the date during an all-hands employee meeting yesterday, and that the project is indeed known internally as "Hurricane." (We're assuming this is what that PalmPad trademark filing was for, but we can't confirm that.) Shipping a killer tablet would be one way to change the subject from ex-CEO Mark Hurd's recent troubles, we suppose -- but we're definitely wondering if HP is actually going to support three different tablet operating systems after it launches the Windows 7-based Slate for the enterprise and the Android-based Zeen e-reader tablet for consumers as well. We'll see -- Q1 could be mighty interesting.
If i'll get one do you think, low budged, played out actresses will be all over me?
@Sea Urchin hmmmmmmm CES 2011 wil be.... EPIC!
@Sea Urchin
Huh....?
@ComboBreaker Whats epic here is your BREATH!
This is still technically 7 months away, so you gotta wonder how much of a strangle hold iPad will have on the market (esp after the holidays).
Plus the fact that there will be no more new webOS devices until then, so development is gonna be falling off big time since the Pre/Pixi are basically dead.
HP's gonna have its work cut out for them for sure. But I do like webOS & it'll be nice to see some real competition.
@Sea Urchin
I'm not sure to be honest. Neither am I sure what 'bugded' means. Ps I want a webOS tablet!
@Sea Urchin webOS FTMFW!
I'm sure Q1 will turn into Q3 but I'll wait!
@ComboBreaker
By CES 2011, Apple will have taken the lead big time if no one is planning to release a tablet in 2010. Looks like everyone blew it....
@Sea Urchin
She's 50 and not so great looking anymore, so they may throw her in along with some apps, LOL!
@peestandingup
FYI...HP Q1 starts Nov 1 ...
@peestandingup whos to say that webOS device arent coming out b4 then, im hoping for a fall release of a webOS device. Why would HP wait that long....really?
@sc0rch3d
FYI - they said calendar Q1
@TomSawyer
Nilay must have just edited that to add "calendar" because it was not there before.
@peestandingup
Another "place holder" announcement with no real details or schedule. "Please, please don't buy an iPad, we're working on something great, really we are. We don't have a CEO, most of Palm's tech gurus have quit, and our mobile strategy looks like a plate of linguini, but hey, trust us, mmkay?"
@Sea Urchin
Just make it 8", call it HP Ipaq Uno or something else, not HP PalmPad, why all the tablet has to have xxxxPAD in there?. shiet.
oh, make it $399, and I'll grab one for sure. Long live webOS.
@ComboBreaker - and if HP does this right (i.e. Nvidia inside, 16x9, Flash, dual camera and HD just to name a few, twi'll truly be epic). Sayin...
@Frankenstein Black Hd? No, where do people get ridiculous requests like this? A mobile os with mobile hardware can not run on hd graphics, that's why the iPad/iPhone 4 aren't significantly faster than previous iPhones/iPods, I tested my iPod touch against an iPad once, and the iPad was definitely faster in some cases, and the iPad is very nice, but generally it was the same speed as
My 600 MHz processor
@That guy 2
Nokia N8 comes to mind..
@That guy 2
"…No, where do people get ridiculous requests like this? A mobile os with mobile hardware can not run on hd graphics…"
care to elaborate? Or u r just saying this because there's no apple mobile device with HD graphic?
The Viliv X10 showed at computex is an Android-based tablet and equipped with a 10-inch, 1366 x 768 touchscreen (720p screen).
2 years from now most mobile devices will have HD graphic.
And like synth says before, the N8 graphic card can process and output native HD content even if the screen res is not HD.
I was hoping it would come out before iPad 2.
@Vuke
It does say Q1/2011, and given that the iPad went on sale roughly at the beginning of Q2/2010 accompanied by Apple's usual annual/yearly update cycle, I do believe Hp met 'your' goal of coming "out before iPad 2".
@DaHarder
Well we'll see when this thing --- the enterprise tablet, that is--- is available to order. There's obviously a lead time between press conference and shipdate.
Not everyone wants the iPad2.
With HP's WebOS pad, and numerous Android slates (like the Dell Streak) coming onto the market, people now have some good choices.
HP should concentrate on WebOS and Android. The clunky old Windows Tablet PC is a relic of yesteryear with so many other alternatives around.
They're gonna have their based covered in terms of choice for the consumers. Take your pick: 7, Android E-reader or WebOS.
@N900
I'll take 1 tablet with all 3 OS....
Thats cool :D
This will blow away the maxi-pad I mean.... iPad out of the water!
@Juggernaut408 how so?
@rmbrown09 THE OS is much better from Palm and the HP version will have usb ports and have more features not like the feature deprived ipad.
@Juggernaut408 so what I see here a bunch of opinions and one fact of USB ports... cool. Definitely going to kill the iPad..
Hey how many apps does Web OS have? The superior OS must have been why the Pre and Pixi did so well right.
@Juggernaut408 Will it have apps? Right now, the iPad has about 4x as many app as the Pre/Pixi has a whole.
@rmbrown09 Sales and apps do not make something more superior. At least WebOS can multitask better, it did multitasking way before Apple ever did, and USB ports are good for something that "as good as a netbook" you idiot.
@Lucas mind blowing sales aside, though I say the consumers wallet points to the best products.
Apps? apps are one of the single biggest things about phones/ tabs these days. Android now has their market, Apple has had their app store.
Apps allow you to increase your phones / tablets usability to nearly any extent. I control out iMac lab with my iPhone, with the LanSchool app. I can then personally control my MacBook Pro with Wimote, If I feel like playing some games I will do that, maybe I want to check my bank accounts with Mint, Twitter, Facebook. Apps are what make up half your phone. The rest is OS and Hardware and build.
I'm sure the build will be fine, I had a palm Pre previously, so I kno Web OS is decent. but don't expect it to be some miracle tablet.
@rmbrown09 You spout all this mess, and then you crow on about "iPad killing".
I don't know if we're past this stage yet, but I would buy a competitive device not to look forward for it's features to kill a competitor, but to serve my needs and demands. Meh..
@rmbrown09 Btw, WebOS isn't a dead platform. You can guarantee that people will still develop for it and use it's SDK to further the number of apps available. The App Catalog has thousands of apps by the way, apps that cater to the consumers needs. Not specifically to EVERY need, but catering nonetheless.
@rmbrown09 I think apps are nice, but a web browser pretty much can take you to wherever an App does, an app is just an easier way of finding or doing something. But, like I said, apps aren't the only thing to make up a device. You need hardware specs, stability, OS. I can have an OS with minimal apps and I'd be happy. Hell, I'd be happy with just internet, some radio apps, IM apps, and a few game apps, that's about it. I don't really need apps at all, but maybe because I've been using dumbphones for my entire life. The Apple OS isn't really successful because it;s "superior", only the app store and it's whorish marketing made it a success.
@Lucas You need a reality check. Apples OS is as polished as they come. There is a reason Apple has sold 3-4 million ipads already. Apps play a huge part of that along with how good the UI is. By the time Q1 rolls around Apple will have sold 10-11 million ipads and probably have 100k apps. Average consumer couldnt care less about USB ports and multitasking(which the ipad will have by then).
@jsbaugh
True WebOS is dead. Apple and Android are just too far ahead for WebOS to have a chance.
@rmbrown09 When comparing the number of apps, first remove the following:
1) Apps that are duplicates of some minor functionality such as tip calculators and task lists
2) Apps that are duplicates of body functions
3) Apps that are merely a front end for a website
4) Apps that waste time such as games.. Doesn't matter if you have three games to waste your time or a thousand.. Either way you are amused and your time is wasted.
Let's look at good solid functional on device, storage on device apps and their ability to interact and then see which device is better.
@malibu1234 I'll agree with 1, 2, and 3 (plenty of each on Apple's app store), but I actually like playing games on my phone, even if others don't. This is one of the areas where both the Android market and WebOS are lacking, but at least Android is catching up. I like WebOS and I really hope it has a future on tablets like this, but a lack of apps -- including games -- will make success a lot harder for the platform.
@Lucas "Sales and apps do not make something more superior."
Neither do more features, necessarily. Features tend to take up space and resources (like memory and battery).
And how do you have any idea about how well the iPad will multitask?
is this going to do anything the iPad can't? If not I expect everyone that raged at the iPad, to do the same with this device.
@rmbrown09
if a Windows 7 tablet is really released, then yes, it will do alot the iPad doesn't do.. like, you know.. be useful...
@Madcat but this is a WebOS tablet.... we are not talking about Win7
@Madcat How is the iPad not useful? I've written full term papers, coded, and even browsed porn on the iPad.
@rmbrown09 You have 3 different tablets being presented. No singularity here. And yes, you will see these devices and OS' do things the iPad can't. Like WebOS' notification system and multitasking/RAM capabilities, e-Reader functionality [(and legibility) not to mention Android and the forthcoming Gingerbread], and 7's versatility.
@rmbrown09 it would be way better than the ipad if palm didn't just stop after the pre. They need a new update and more applications. And a windows 7 tablet would be way more useful than an ipad.
@rmbrown09 Why cant people wrap their heads around the fact that devices like this and the iPad are not meant to be a computer. They are a new breed of device. With the kind of connectivity we have today and the massive amounts of cloud services available a full computer is not necessarily always better. It is true that I wish the iPad could multitask but from what I have seen of IOS 4 on my iPhone 4 multitasking on the iPad is gonna be awesome come the 4.0 update this fall. Personally I wouldn't want a Windows 7 slate. Windows 7 is not designed to run on such a device and is far to complicated and generic to run with any sort of reliability. I have to fix my wife's Windows PC at least once a week. I have yet to fix her iPad. Lets keep windows on the desktop and use more streamlined OS' like WebOS, IOS and Android on our portables. Putting something like Windows 7 on a slate would be just as silly as running Android or IOS on my Macbook Pro. Personally I think this is just the beginning of an OS revolution.
@engadget fanboy
please stop making so much sense. The heads of many readers are exploding right now.