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.
Meh... still 7 months. By that time the iPad will have grown nuff roots to withstand any tablet attempts to topple it. And then when it looks that iPad's loosing *bam!* iPad2
@darknessangel
A company with the sales figures of HP won't take too long, Never mind the accumulated sales of all the different Android tablets next year, by next Xmas the iPad will be like the iPhone, 3rd in the marketplace.
@fourthletter *shrug* eitherway a) 3rd place is still top 3, b) that's in the far far future and c) it'll still be mainstream (= meaning there will be always new aps for it). I'm not a apple fangirl, just saying as I see it. And I'm really dissapointed that noone but Apple has come out and put a tablet. At least marketingwise (taking into consideration that tablets have been around for a while.. in the form of thieve-killing, expensive bricks).
Dear HP - Can we have a new WebOS phone, please? Even an update? I been waiting for what seems like forever, and the silence from you folks is a bit worrisome. Can't you guys just keep the Pre Plus' case, and toss in a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and either keep the 512MB ram or upgrade that to 1GB? Just a bump in hardware spec would be nice.
By the time anyone ships a decent competitor, I will have been using my iPad for 9-10 months! Of course, just as everyone catches up, Apple will ship ipad2 and steal all their thunder. It's the iPod story all over again.
Personally...
I say Let The Tablet Onsllaught Begin!
Here's an early 'peek' at RIM's BlackPad http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/08/09/rim-blackpad-may-start-at-499-ship-in-september/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gottabemobile+(GottaBeMobile)&utm_content=FeedBurner+user+view
@DaHarder Dude, that picture is just an iPad with simulated bbos6 screenshot
I went from webos to android to iphone and back to webos. Why? Cause I like webos the whole user experience is more fun. I will be buying a palm pad. Palm doesn't have to beat out the competitors the market is big enough for everyone. They just need to make money. Also if your saying webos isn't the best os you haven't used it for a week. I agree with 1 thing. The others have lots of apps but I like the ones webos has.
@sandwich2 Sorry, your alone there, webos is very nice, and with some work could blow android out of the water, with a lot of work, like insane amount of work, it could pass iPhone, but aside from the iPhone having the most/best apps, the ui and user experience is ligbtyears better than android and quite a bit better than webos
@That guy 2 yea you don't have webos obviously. Webos does everything better. Everyone needs to try it for a few weeks. It needs no work and will only get better. I love it right now. Everyone needs to drop this fanboy apple is best stuff and just try things. The world is getting so weird.
Nice, but please give us more SMARTPHONES with webOS before you try out new hardware! At this rate, every Palm employee is literally going to be gone and webOS will be so far behind it will be like starting from scratch again.
How many people think the tablet is going to be non-touch screen now that Hurd is gone and Cathie Lesjak is the interim CEO? She was the only HP VP to push for the non-touchscreen tablet concept (because of difficulty for women with longer nails to use). The concept was to use a some type of controller like a trackball or pointer nub. Not too many people liked the idea, but now that she's the interim CEO, she might have the power to do it her way.
Now that could be cool. As long as it's more than a glorified Palm Pre/Pixi, it should be great. I'm guessing it might be pretty easy to put your own Linux distro on it?
I bet this thing will have some kick ass printer integration!
Real artists ship.
Timeline Q1 2011 ?. Sorry that is way too late!. By Xmas 2010, the Andriod tablets will be challenging iPad dominance with Froyo OS and various screen sizes and price points to suit buyers. This will eat a large slice of those who thinks of buying the iPad unless its that IPS screen they really wanted.
I think HP will not get into the consumer market in a big way and make a play for the Corporate/SME markets which are their strongholds. They will put in software distribution/management systems and security/policy solutions for business tablets. But that market will take time and HP can wait since it is their existing customer base.
So guys, do not hope for any consumer level things from HP in a long time, you will be disappointed!. Now Dell is a different beast and it has struck with the Streak but variants coming out of that could just hit the right spot for many. Go Dell!.
I hope HP releases some other WebOS devices sooner, maybe a PMP, or another phone (with better display res, and no keyboard, and microSD) they need to release something sooner to help keep WebOS alive and atract more developers.
When I saw Pre in 2009 I was waiting for it, but the moment it arrive it already look old, bad camera and not good enough, there is a lot of competition.
I would love to have a tablet with WebOS, but January!, there are tablets in the works with android, chrome and meego (really cool OS all of them)
If HP misses the holiday season they should just throw in the towel. If they want a successful launch they need to pull out all the stops and have it ready for the holiday season. To cede the holiday season to Apple will be disasterous for their launch. Apple will have sold a couple million more devices and people will have spent most of their discretionary money during the holiday season. Dah! It's not rocket science HP!