HP webOS Tablet Confirmed for Early 2011

HP PalmPad During todays Hewlett-Packard FYQ32010 Earnings call, HP Exec Todd Bradley outright confirmed that a webOS Tablet product is in the works for sometime in early 2011. When asked during the Q&A session if HP would be participating in the Tablet category, he replied:

Well, as we look at tablet sales and slate sales that was a big part of the reason we acquired Palm. You'll see us with a Microsoft product out in the near future, and a webOS-based product in early 2011.

The PalmPad commeth perhaps? HP's presentation is archived online, and the full call transcript can be read here.

Via Engadget.

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probably to expensive

linds @ 8/20/2010 8:57:31 AM # Q
I am sure they will want to charge $500 for this just like apple. I just wish someone could offer a great tablet that would basically be browser with flash capabilities. If someone could sell that for $100 it would seem to be unstoppable.

Someone almost has done this,

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2367329,00.asp

RE: probably to expensive
hkklife @ 8/20/2010 1:46:45 PM # Q
By all accounts, that K-Mart special was pretty much a POS. It had no buillt-in volume control, no official access to the Android Market, a resistive touchscreen, and a myriad of other lesser issues. I'd honestly sit tight and I have a feeling we are going to be awash with affordable 7" Tegra-powered tablets in the next 4-6 months. Or, if they won't be as dirt-cheap as this guy was, they'll at least undercut the iPad Mini (or whatever it's called) by a good bit.


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RE: probably to expensive
jca666us @ 8/21/2010 8:28:18 PM # Q
>I am sure they will want to charge $500 for this just like apple.

Linds, is it a crime to want to make money?

HP probably want to charge even more than apple, but they need to release a quality product first.

If it's half-baked like the Pre & Pixi, no one will touch it.

RE: probably to expensive
CFreymarc @ 8/22/2010 12:51:40 AM # Q
IMO, HP wants to do the "Professional Tablet" addressing the office environment instead of the domestic and consumer market which iPad has mostly sold into for the past six months. That would be a natural for their brand.
RE: probably to expensive
jca666us @ 8/22/2010 7:45:25 AM # Q
I've read that HP intends going to sell:

- windows "slate" devices to businesses
- "palmpad" to consumers

Seems like a mistake to fragment things that way, but that's the latest I've read.

RE: probably to expensive
Gekko @ 8/22/2010 8:25:57 AM # Q

"let's throw a bunch of shiit against the wall and see what sticks."

RE: probably to expensive
linds @ 8/22/2010 11:10:01 AM # Q
@jca666us

It is no crime for HP to want to make money, it is just hard for me to justify spending $500 on another computer like device when I already have a desktop, laptop, and a work laptop. But the thing is, I really want to be able to justify it.

RE: probably to expensive
nastebu @ 8/22/2010 7:15:07 PM # Q
What would a "professional tablet" bring to the market that current slate computers don't already offer? That market doesn't seem open to me.

On the other had, I can think of plenty of reasons "professionals" would want a pad that does what the iPad does--collect and make available tons of documents and different media, as well as email and basic web.

RE: probably to expensive
jca666us @ 8/22/2010 8:51:20 PM # M Q
Linds, I guess we have to wait and see how hp markets their tablet/slate initiative.

I think the iPad is great for what it does - if hp can improve on that - great.

I have my doubts.

RE: probably to expensive
bhartman34 @ 8/23/2010 4:02:59 AM # Q
For me, a WebOS tablet would be pointless, for the same reason I don't want an iPad: I want real apps, not scaled-up phone apps. I don't want a finger-painting program. I want a Photoshop or Gimp-level program. I don't want a dumbed-down word processor. Give me Office or OpenOffice, or their equivalents. I don't expect it to do everything a desktop could do, but it sure as hell should do something close to it.
RE: probably to expensive
jimn367 @ 8/23/2010 6:46:38 AM # Q
All depends on your needs/usage.

Right now I carry a personal netbook on travel along with an ipod, [sometimes] a GPS, and my work laptop. I carry the netbook for personal use (Skype with family, etc) and to watch movies on the flight. I only use work laptop for work.

To me a slate device would make a great Netbook alternative, especially if I could figure out a way to synch pocket informant with work. The biggest disappointment for me was the ipad's size and lack of Skype camera. Of course I feel it was deliberate because Apple's video offering was not yet ready, and they did not want Skype to take the market from them...

RE: probably to expensive
LiveFaith @ 8/23/2010 6:58:15 AM # Q
But is a tablet a better movie watcher / Skyper than the netbook FF? I mean, you have to physically hold it up the entire time. If that's all you use one netbook for, I can see the desire to downsize to a tablet, but it has tradeoffs it seems.
Pat Horne
RE: probably to expensive
jimn367 @ 8/23/2010 8:07:05 AM # Q
To be honest I mostly agree with your points. I love my Netbook. bought 1 gen too soon. Need the broadcomm chipset and ion dual core :/

I think I would much rather have a souped up ipod touch with front and rear cameras (like the iphone 4) and built in GPS chips.

My much more logical upgrade path is to a new Touch (versus my ipod video). I wish you could get an iphone without voice and the ipad data plans...

Reply to this comment

What is the point of iPad-sized tablets without a desktop OS?

Fake Jeff Hawkins @ 8/28/2010 5:13:03 PM # Q
I tried the iPad and still do not see the point of it. Nice screen, decent browsing experience, but it needs a case (thus bumping its weight into netbook/laptop territory) just to prop it up + it is generally awkward to hold.

Dumbphone makes sense.
PDA makes sense.
2-4 inch screened smartphone makes sense.
10 inch netbook makes sense.
12-15 inch laptop makes sense.

iPad makes NO sense.

When you need to try HARD to come up with excuses to buy a product, you REALLY don't need that product. Yet more proof that unfortuately Apple Hype > Common Sense.

FJH

The perfect new device from Apple?
Fake Jeff Hawkins @ 8/28/2010 5:35:05 PM # Q
Take an iPhone 4 and turn it into a clamshell device by adding a keyboard that the screen can fold or twist + fold onto like the old Sony CLIE UX50 did. Make total thickness twice current iPhone 4. Cell phone radios, WiFi a/b/g/n, 3G or 4G data, dual cameras, Skype, FaceTime, MiWi, StyleTap...

I would buy it, but can Apple make it?

FJH

RE: What is the point of iPad-sized tablets without a desktop OS?
hkklife @ 8/28/2010 7:35:22 PM # Q
I maintain that the perfect portable (in theory) is an 11.6" or 12" convertible tablet notebook. Basically, like Gigabyte's Atom-powered offerings or even HP's Touchsmart TM2 but with much, much better software, better battery life and a sleeker/lighter formfactor. And a backlit keyboard would be icing on the cake. That's the best size for serious work/play.

Smaller than that, well, Samsung's Galaxy S Epic on Sprint makes a pretty compelling case. A decent slide-out keyboard and a 4" Super AMOLED screen is a pretty groovy combination for a smartphone. HP/Palm need something in this category ASAP for WebOS to have any kind of chance in making an impact on the market.

Like FJH said, the biggest downfall of the iPad, IMHO, other than its weak specs (no webcam, no expandable storage etc) relative to its price is its weight. I was playing with someone's iPad today and was just thinking to myself how I would not want to try and hold that thing while in bed or in a hammock trying to watch a movie or read an e-book.
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RE: What is the point of iPad-sized tablets without a desktop OS?
gmayhak @ 8/28/2010 8:33:06 PM # Q
FJH, It's possible for a third party hardware developer to give you the mechanical folding keyboard, they just need to make it bluetooth and it will interface with iOS 4. (but the software keyboard has so much more going for it)
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/keyboard.html

Hey Kris, I'm loving the the size of the iPad. For watching flicks I stand it up landscape mode in a little wood laser cut business card holder or prop it up on the nightstand. The iPad and Netflix is the perfect combination! Smaller would be too small for widescreen flicks.

For writing code you really need a Mac or Windows machine BUT with the Mocha VNC app or one of the other VNC apps the iPad becomes an extension of your desktop computer and there again I wouldn't want a smaller screen.

I'm adding camera functionality to some of my iPhone apps and think cameras would be great in the next version iPad but I don't personally have much use for one.

Is anyone following the stuff Jeff Hawkins/Numenta are doing? Some of this is getting pretty interesting. A few years ago I wrote a little Palm app that captured some of the things proposed buy Jeff ( really pissed off Mike because it wouldn't win the lottery for him ;)
http://www.talestuff.com/M5_htm.htm
Now they have some new theories they are incorporating...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDzr0_fbnVk
I have a feeling that they are getting closer to the 'smart machine' generation!

Gary

Tech Center Labs
www.talestuff.com
www.iTalentProductions.com

RE: What is the point of iPad-sized tablets without a desktop OS?
jca666us @ 8/30/2010 4:38:25 AM # Q
I tried the iPad and still do not see the point of it.

iPad makes NO sense.
-----------------------------
That's why you're FJH as opposed to the real Jeff Hawkins. The real Jeff Hawkins wouldn't be as close-minded.

Ipad is a replacement for for the netbook; better browsing experience, better email experience, better movie watching experience.

No idea what kind of case you'd put on the ipad, but it's built like a tank and is much lighter than a laptop.
-----------------------------------
When you need to try HARD to come up with excuses to buy a product, you REALLY don't need that product. Yet more proof that unfortuately Apple Hype
-----------------------------------
Seems like you're making up excuses NOT to like it.

RE: What is the point of iPad-sized tablets without a desktop OS?
jca666us @ 8/30/2010 4:50:06 AM # Q
I maintain that the perfect portable (in theory) is an 11.6" or 12" convertible tablet notebook.
----------------------------
In theory; Apple's selling every ipad they can make.
----------------------------
Basically, like Gigabyte's Atom-powered offerings or even HP's Touchsmart TM2 but with much, much better software, better battery life and a sleeker/lighter formfactor.
-----------------------------
Much better software?

Better battery life?

Sleeker/lighter form factor?

Sounds like an ipad to me.
-----------------------------
Like FJH said, the biggest downfall of the iPad, IMHO, other than its weak specs (no webcam, no expandable storage etc) relative to its price is its weight.
-----------------------------
There's one spec apple got perfectly right with the ipad - battery life. My ipad lasts for weeks on a single charge.

It's not like my laptop where i need to find a cable to plug in when I need to use it.

A webcam and expandable storage are "nice to have"'s - amazing battery life is a necessity.
-----------------------------
I was playing with someone's iPad today and was just thinking to myself how I would not want to try and hold that thing while in bed or in a hammock trying to watch a movie or read an e-book.
-----------------------------
I agree that it's a little heavy - due to the aluminum, glass, and dual batteries necessary to keep that display powered. Still, it's lighter and easier to hold then a netbook.

Definitely future versions will be lighter; as display technology gets more power efficient. Regardless I've yet to see a netbook that can last weeks on a charge that is as power efficient as the ipad.

Reply to this comment

THIS is HP

mikecane @ 9/2/2010 4:34:41 PM # Q
RE: THIS is HP
gmayhak @ 9/2/2010 8:27:52 PM # Q
RE: THIS is HP
mikecane @ 9/3/2010 3:55:51 AM # Q
You make my frikkin point! That it's a brainy outfit.
RE: THIS is HP
richf @ 9/3/2010 6:50:07 AM # Q
Holy cow! I still have hp41 software that I acquired and wrote for the hp library. This is magnificent. Can't remember where that library of programs went but I think it was donated to some org that I can't recall. Probably dead horse by now. Would like to try this out in a bad way. Just answered my own question. Anyone interested look at this...http://www.hpmuseum.org/software/soft41.htm
Have a nice day!
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RE: THIS is HP
gmayhak @ 9/3/2010 9:06:08 AM # Q
It's probably the most sophisticated piece of software for iOS and it looks beautiful on the iPad with printer & 41 side by side. I remember a lot of the programs submitted by users because I had a tool shop build a punch and I punched the little mag strips from the large IBM magnetic cards and made custom strips for everyone.

Gary
Tech Center Labs
www.talestuff.com
www.iTalentProductions.com

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