HP CEO Meg Whitman has big plans for the future, that include a Windows 8 tablet this year. The info comes from The Wall Street Journal, quoting the HP official who says that it’s time to rebuild after a year of disappointment. After the Palm takeover it all went downhill for HP, who almost shut down the entire mobile division at some point.
The company was ready to give up tablets and smartphones alltogether, after having to get rid of the HP TouchPad stock, by selling the tablet for $100 a piece. Now the slate has become a hobby for Android porters, who try to bring Android 4.0 via custom software such as CyanogenMod 9. Now, HP wants to get into cloud computing, security and tools for the business segment. This sounds very much like Microsoft material, so it’s wise to go with Windows 8 this time, not Android or webOS.
The HP TouchPad ran webOS and it was canceled two months after it was launched. Leaks uncovered that there was also a 7 inch unit in the making, but that one also got canned. I wonder what format HP will adopt for the Win 8 slates this time. They have to be careful not to ship a behemoth of a tablet with poor battery life, but a flimsy little tablet is also something they wouldn’t want to deliver. I’d go with an 8.9 inch unit with a 10mm or so waistline, an Intel CPU of the new generation and maybe a decent camera thrown in there.
