HP Tablet Plans Draw Interest After Palm Deal

Hewlett-Packard Co hopes its planned $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm Inc will not only give it solid foundation in the growing smartphone market, but also provide it with a platform for other mobile devices, including tablets.

HP has made it clear that its plans for Palm, an early pioneer in handheld devices, include products beyond just smartphones.

Todd Bradley, who leads HP’s PC unit, said that Palm’s webOS operating system gives the company a unique platform for “connected products” including tablets, or what HP calls “slates”.

HP has been working on slates for some time, long before the Palm deal was on the radar. Phil McKinney, chief technology officer of HP’s PC division, said earlier this year that the company first explored the electronic reader category before shifting focus to devices that offer a full multimedia experience.

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HP’s first slate emerged in January. The roughly 10-inch touchscreen device ran on Microsoft’s Windows, and the company had been trickling out teaser videos for several months, although it never officially announced a launch date.

However, according to the technology website TechCrunch, HP has now scrapped its plan to launch a Windows tablet, just days after Wednesday’s deal to buy Palm. TechCrunch cited a source who had been briefed on the matter.

An HP spokeswoman declined to comment on the report. Microsoft also declined to comment.

But Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, said that it would not surprise him if HP abandoned the idea of a Windows tablet.

“When they bought Palm, this is what I figured was going to happen,” he said.

Enderle said the HP Windows device had “serious problems, it was too heavy and it didn’t perform well. I think Microsoft takes the hit on this one. HP wanted it to do things that it just couldn’t do.”
Some industry watchers have said Palm itself was working on a prototype tablet device based on webOS, but that development was hurt by a last of cash. With HP’s deep pockets, that will no longer be a problem.

Palm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The question is when such a tablet might be ready for the market.
Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said on Friday he now doesn’t expect an HP tablet device – based on Palm’s platform – until next year, even as the tablet market starts to catch fire with consumers.
Apps are seen as crucial to the success of mobile devices. Apple’s App Store has more than 200,000 apps, while Google’s Android Market tops 38,000.

By contrast, Palm’s App Catalog has around 2,000.

HP has also been developing devices on Google’s mobile platform. It just launched an Android netbook in Spain.