A gathering storm?
PC giant HP has been conspicuously reluctant to jump on most of the mobile device bandwagons recently - the netbook being a prime example. Obviously the world's biggest PC-maker doesn't lack the resources to make such a move if it chooses to, so we suspect it has held back for fear of joining the ‘me too' market.
That's why its proposed acquisition of smartphone maker Palm makes good sense - not for the handsets, but for the unique webOS operating system. Without webOS, if HP wanted to enter the mobile device market is would be forced to compete against the likes of HTC in the Android and Windows phone sector. That wouldn't play to HP's strengths at all.
And its biggest competitor, of course, is Apple - especially in the mobile device market. Once the iPad, which runs on a mobile phone operating system, was launched, the potential limitations of HP's planned Windows Slate device became acutely apparent and it seems HP realised the Slate just wouldn't be competitive.
So, rather than join what is likely to be a herd of Android/Chrome OS slates/tablets, HP has moved to acquire the one thing that can differentiate it from the others - its own OS. According to examiner.com, an HP insider has confirmed that an HP tablet running webOS, and codenamed Hurricane, will be launched in Q3 of this year.
The codename looks like a reference to speed, and HP will need plenty of it. Not only does the Hurricane need to be pretty quick - something that any of the ARM-based SoCs should be able to offer, it needs to arrive quickly too. The iPad looks like it has got off to a great start and Computex should see the arrival of a bunch more such devices. HP can't afford to be as circumspect about the tablet market as it was netbooks if it doesn't want to miss the boat.
