HP has announced that it will release a new tablet device later this year. The HP ‘Touchpad’ is expected to be unveiled during the summer and the company has expressed confidence in its ability to dominate the tablet market.
The tech firm is hoping to recreate the success it has experienced on the PC market. The device will utilise HP’s WebOS which will compete with Apple, Google, Blackberry and Windows operating systems.
“In the PC world, with fewer ways of differentiating HP’s products from our competitors, we became number one; in the tablet world we’re going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus,” commented Eric Cador, European head of HP.
The WebOS system has been developed using technology HP acquired following its purchase of Palm. Early reviews of the operating system have been almost all positive. However, the company now needs to attract app developers to produce applications for the platform. HP have also commented that apps that run on the web will also be compatible with the Touchpad device.
Confirmed company apps for the new HP device include Sky, The Guardian and Last.fm. However, the company were keen to point out that there will be literally thousands more available following the Touchpad’s launch.
“Only one company plays in both the consumer and business and world. We tend to talk about technologies. But the way the user is going to look at tablets means it’s about experience,” said Mr Cador.
