HP will still release a Windows tablet

 

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 23 Jul 2010 at 10:30

HP will release a Microsoft tablet for businesses and a webOS version for consumers, the company has revealed.

After HP picked up Palm, many questioned whether it would use the mobile manufacturer's operating system on forthcoming tablets or stick with Microsoft's Windows.

It seems HP will do both, according to Todd Bradley, vice president of HP's personal systems division, speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference.

I think you'll see us with a family of slate products

"I think you'll see us with a family of slate products, clearly a Microsoft product in the enterprise and a webOS product broadly-deployed," Fortune quoted Bradley as saying.

"Our focus is working with still our largest software partner, Microsoft, to create a tablet, a slate, for the enterprise business," he added.

Bradley promised an HP tablet would arrive by this autumn, but didn't make it clear if it would be the webOS or Windows edition.

Microsoft might be the key to cracking the enterprise tablet market, noted TechMarketView analyst Richard Holway. "The Microsoft tablets could be quite successful in enterprises given the ubiquitous nature of Microsoft Office products," he told PC Pro prior to HP's announcement. "A familiar operating system environment will be an advantage."

However, Palm's CEO claimed webOS might offer more opportunity for HP to create a better experience for users. "I think it's important to have control over the entire user experience and really deliver great consumer products," said Jon Rubinstein at the Fortune conference. "If you really want to deliver a great experience, in this case, the HP experience, you want your own OS."