HP to Reenter Tablet Market with Windows 8

hp logoAmong Apple's early competitors in the tablet market, HP gained a significant amount of attention as it initially sought to build its niche around webOS, which it acquired along with Palm in early 2010. HP introduced its webOS-based TouchPad in early 2011, launching the device on July 1 of that year only to exit the tablet and smartphone business just six weeks later.

HP then successfully sold off its backlog of TouchPads at $99 fire sale prices, announcing that it would make webOS an open source project.

The Bangkok Post now reports that HP has decided to reenter the tablet market, this time taking advantage of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 platform in a fresh attempt to make an impact in the rapidly-growing tablet market.

Restarting production is a strategic move aimed at capitalising on the extraordinary growth in tablet sales, chief executive Meg Whitman said yesterday at the Global Influencer Summit 2012. [...]

Todd Bradley, the executive vice-president for printing and personal systems, said HP's Windows 8 tablets will come equipped with cloud-based technology, enabling users to share and store content online between different devices.

Apple continues to dominate the tablet market two years after the debut of the original iPad, with its shipment share even rising to 68% in the first quarter of 2012 as early momentum from Amazon's Kindle Fire seems to have faded.

Google's Android operating system has had only limited success in the tablet market, led by Samsung's Galaxy Tab offerings, while Amazon's heavily-customized Kindle Fire implementation of Android has also attempted to stake a claim to the market. Other competitors have had less success, with webOS falling by the wayside almost before it got started.

Microsoft is the latest entrant into the tablet market since Apple reinvented the segment, banking on its Windows 8 products to bridge the gap between PCs and tablets. The company showed off Windows 8 last September and earlier this year revealed its plans for bringing Windows to ARM processors in a further effort to blur the lines between desktop and mobile. HP, the world's largest PC manufacturer, could play a key role in working to spread Windows to the tablet market, but it remains to be seen whether Microsoft will have success with its efforts.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
Apple Watch Series 9

2024 Apple Watch Lineup: Key Changes We're Expecting

Tuesday July 16, 2024 7:59 am PDT by
Apple is seemingly planning a rework of the Apple Watch lineup for 2024, according to a range of reports from over the past year. Here's everything we know so far. Apple is expected to continue to offer three different Apple Watch models in five casing sizes, but the various display sizes will allegedly grow by up to 12% and the casings will get taller. Based on all of the latest rumors,...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...

Top Rated Comments

AustinIllini Avatar
159 months ago
This gives me hope that this touchpad I have might be able to get Windows 8 installed on it.

I fully expect HP and Microsoft to provide no support for the touchpad
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NAG Avatar
159 months ago
I fully expect HP and Microsoft to provide no support for the touchpad

It's kind of been HP's track record recently. They show off the Windows 7 Slate. They throw it under the bus and buy Palm. They throw Palm under the bus before they even release the TouchPad. And now we're supposed to believe they're going to actually put their support behind a Windows 8 tablet? Really? The company habitually gets cold feet and I have no reason to believe that will change with yet another CEO swap while everything else about the company remains the same.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
celo48 Avatar
159 months ago
They did not learn their lesson.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KnightWRX Avatar
159 months ago
Just. Make. Printers.
Yeah, throw all those nice Integrity and Proliant servers away, those SAN solutions and storage arrays, all that software and consulting that's worth billions. Just make stupid printers.

Some people sure don't have a clue what HP even does and it shows. :rolleyes:
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
markintosh Avatar
159 months ago
Welcome to the party

Too bad there's no beer left :)
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rjohnstone Avatar
159 months ago
Yeah, throw all those nice Integrity and Proliant servers away, those SAN solutions and storage arrays, all that software and consulting that's worth billions. Just make stupid printers.

Some people sure don't have a clue what HP even does and it shows. :rolleyes:
This^^^

We have THOUSANDS of HP Proliant servers and they're rock solid.
HP's network consulting team are no slackers either. They make some of the Cisco reps look like first year ITT drop outs. ;)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)