HP Hurricane WebOS tablet launch in Q3 2010
For those who despaired when HP announced that the much-rumoured HP Slate was not going to be launched, there is something to look forward to – according to rumours, a new tablet is in the works, code-named ‘Hurricane’ that runs WebOS.
Photo: HP Slate, now dead. WebOS based HP Hurricane coming up!
When HP acquired Palm last month, the company was very clear that they were keen on developing WebOS devices, and had mentioned that the mobile OS would ‘scale’. That was as clear an indication as possible from HP that the company planned to launch a WebOS tablet. And now rumours are circulating on gadget blogs that the HP Hurricane is on its way.
Photo: Palm Pre, running WebOS. How would WebOS look on the HP Hurricane?
The HP Slate was expected to be a full-fledged tablet computer, going by the specifications and hardware info leaked in the last few months. However, WebOS is a smartphone operating system; so it is unlikely that HP would try to use it on a full-fledged tablet computer. However, the iPad has already proven that you do not need a full fledged computer on a tablet.
Would the HP Hurricane directly take on the Apple iPad? Unlikely. Apple’s greatest strength is the size of its iTunes App store, which would be difficult for HP to replicate. What they can do, however, is to encourage their substantial number of Palm app developers to create more interesting, useful apps for its own App store. The WebOS operating system, developed by Palm, was always considered a worthy competitor to the iPhone OS and Google Android.
The HP Hurricane is expected to be launched in the third quarter of 2010, just in time to capitalise on the year-end gifting season. Obviously, at this point we cannot expect a confirmation from the company. Doubts also remain whether the company would be able to actually produce the HP Hurricane in the remaining few months.
Obviously, there are no photos of the HP Hurricane available; not even leaked images. But if this rumour turns out to be true, expect renderings and blurry photos of the Hurricane to leak in the next few months. Related story: Palm Pixi WebOS smartphone
The Apple iPad has already sold a million units (Related: Apple iPad in India) and by the time the HP Hurricane launch approaches, it would be extremely clear to competitors if they could provide an alternative to the iPad. There are a substantial number of upcoming Android tablets expected to launch in 2010 too. The company now clearly has the iPad in its sights, and we can be sure that the HP Hurricane would try to offer all that the iPad does not. We would be updating this story with the technical specifications of the HP Hurricane as soon as we get hold of them.
If there is anyone who not is entirely happy with the new developments, it has to be Microsoft which was banking heavily on the HP Slate to prove that its Windows 7 operating system could provide a convincing alternative to anything from Apple. Guess they would have to find a different partner to do that with now. On the other hand, this could provoke Microsoft to develop a web tablet based on its Windows Phone 7 smartphone OS.