After many months of secrecy regarding their touchscreen tablet, it looks as if HP has finally come up with a name for their iPad contender, one that may please the Palm Pre masses.
HP’s been extremely direct in saying that it plans to release webOS tablets and other devices in the future, and now that the Palm acquisition is complete, it looks like those plans are starting to move forward — the company just filed a trademark application for “PalmPad,” which certainly sounds like a webOS tablet to us. (via Engadget)
Rumor around the interwebs has HP launching the PalmPad by September at the latest, which should be around the same time that Apple releases iOS 4 for the iPad (which desperately needs it!).
It will be interesting to see if the PalmPad can convince developers to jump ship from the iPad or (at the very least) consider porting their various apps over to a super sized webOS screen instead of maintaining an “Android is the only alternative” world view.
PalmPad could also help HP gain a major foothold in the touchscreen market, as well as allow the company to improve their touchscreen technology to match Apple’s (and no, the HP TouchSmart doesn’t count).
Hopefully HP’s prices will not be too expensive, lest the masses remain in Steve Jobs pocket (not to mention the army of developers).
Originally posted on July 19, 2010 @ 3:21 pm
I’m not incredibly excited by the name, but I am excited about what it may mean in terms of bringing another option into a more visible position.
I’m also excited because it may encourage more people to take the platform more seriously and develop additional apps. Time will tell though…