HP sees TouchPad coexisting with iPad in tablet market

The much-vaunted Hewlett-Packard TouchPad officially launches in the United States today, and HP vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations Richard Kerris has already spoken up about the tablet in a recent interview with The Loop.

According to Kerris, HP is not exactly looking to go up against other tablet users in the market. Instead, the company will attempt to pull in more PC users than say iPad users to the new webOS tablet. “We think there’s a better opportunity for us to go after the enterprise space and those consumers that use PCs,” said Kerris. As a result, he may not see the runaway success of the iPad having any negative impact on the TouchPad. “This market is in its infancy and there is plenty of room for both of us to grow.” He goes on to say that it would be ignorant of the company to even attempt to dethrone the Apple iPad.

Kerris also spoke of HP’s long term plan of incorporating webOS into additional devices, including computers and even printers. Official webOS workshops are also being held in California to aid developers and to build interest in webOS development.

Still, some initial reviews of the TouchPad are less than stellar. According to Macworld.com, the interface “isn’t responsive enough, app launching is slow, and there are too many other quirks that scream that this is a 1.0 release of a tablet operating system.” However, we remain optimistic that HP will be constantly updating its TouchPad for improving usability on the software side. Those familiar with webOS either through the Pre or Pixi smartphones will recognize that the operating system can be quite user friendly with a low learning curve.

The 9.7-inch HP TouchPad ships with webOS 3.0, a 1024x768 resolution screen, a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon APQ8060 CPU, 1GB RAM, up to 32GB HDD and a front-facing camera. The 16GB model is now available in the U.S. for $499. Those who pre-ordered the tablet could get a $50 discount off of the 32GB model if they own a Palm Pre or Pixi smartphone.

Source(s)