The very first WebOS device to come out of HP since it acquired the operating system’s owner Palm will be shipping out in “early 2011,” according to what is finally the official word from HP.
Still being completely vague, HP executive VP Todd Bradley said, “You’ll see us with a Microsoft product out in the near future and a WebOS-based product in early 2011,” during a call with investors.
The tablet, codenamed “Hurricane,” is HP’s answer to the iPad and it will be the company’s first chance to get its hands dirty with the platform it acquired as part of its Palm buyout. A device like this is the perfect stepping stone for HP as it transitions from being a computer maker to now also dabbling in the world of mobile phones.
Before purchasing Palm, HP had tossed around the idea of iPad-like tablets that would run on Android or Windows operating systems, but now that it has a vested interest in making WebOS an accepted mobile standard, those prior tablet plans have been indefinitely shelved.
Although the project’s codename is Hurricane, it wasn’t long before people started noticing that HP had trademarked the name Palmpad, which is now widely believed to be what the final product’s name will be.
Exact details about what kind of processor and features it will have, as well as what changes HP will make to Palm’s long-running WebOS platform, will hopefully be revealed soon.
