HP Confirms Windows 8 Tablets

Well would you look at that, I only published a story less than 24 hours ago about HP entering the tablet market with Windows 8 and then they go and confirm it just after. Typical! In fairness it probably isn’t much of a surprise, more of a coincidence that HP announced this news now. My post dabbled more with the idea of HP bringing back the TouchPad from the dead, but in a conference call with HP CEO Meg Whitman and an LA Times Analyst, HP cemented their commitment to entering the tablet market with Windows 8. However they didn’t say if they were going to be re-using the TouchPad brand.
Of course it’s no surprise that the worlds largest PC manufacturer is keen on entering the tablet race. However what people were curious to see is if HP decided to stick with their failed Web OS that they acquired from Palm this year, or if they should cut their losses and resort back to Windows 8. Based on this news, it looks like HP have decided to drop the Web OS from their tablet division in favour of Windows 8 as they’ve recognised the huge potential that Windows 8 can bring them. This is a bit of a U-turn for HP. Originally they had said that they would be working with Microsoft and bring out phones running Windows Phone 7. Then they dropped that in favour of Web OS which hasn’t been very successful for them at all.


HP’s CEO said that they were still trying to figure out what it is that they are going to do with Web OS.
This is what Whitman said,

“We’re at the beginning stages of a new segment in personal computing,” Whitman said of tablets in the call. She also said that she doesn’t believe it’s too late for HP to succeed in the tablet market and that “the work we do with Microsoft is extraordinary compelling.”

Whitman said in the call that HP’s Windows 8 tablets would launch sometime next year and that the company would be narrowing its focus to help the company succeed not just next year, but also in 2013, 2014 and the future.

“One of my observations is that HP tries to do a lot of things,” “And I am big believer in doing a small number of things really, really well — set them up, knock them down, set them up, knock them down.”

One rumour that’s been going around is that HP could be thinking of using the Web OS in a range of Ultrabooks. HP has remained surprisingly quiet when it comes to Ultrabooks. Most of the other major PC manufacturer’s like ASUS, Acer, Toshiba and Lenevo have all announced these ultra thin devices. Personally I hope to god that they don’t release Ultrabooks running the Web OS as I really don’t think it would be suitable for them at all.