HP, Palm, RIM are all reportedly developing tablets and there are also reports of Android tablets in the making. It is expected that they would launch their devices in the next six months. The launch of new tablets would definitely pose a strong competition for Apple’s hugely popular tablet PC- the iPad.
HP, which already sells a tablet device, is gearing up to release a new device in early 2011. But this time the company is planning to launch a device which will be running Palm’s webOS.
Notably, HP has been selling Windows-powered tablet PCs for several years. The device is hugely popular in areas such as health care as it offers support for the applications the customers need and for the security demanded by regulators. Apple’s device is still to make its mark when in industrial-strength computing. Apple however, has released the iPad keeping in mid the usage of normal consumers.
The Palm webOS-based device will be aimed at the consumer market. But it is expected that the device will come loaded with some enterprise-friendly features, which HP will carry over from other webOS devices. The company will definitely integrated features like complete corporate e-mail integration and enterprise-grade security.
It remains to be seen whether HP will also create the hype which Apple had created before releasing the iPad. I don’t think HP will succeed in doing so because not everyone is gifted like Apple CEO Steve Jobs at creating hype before launching his company’s device. HP needs to come up with a real cool device to pose a threat to iPad and establish itself in the tablet sector.
