HP yesterday announced plans to keep its PC division, and said it would have a decision regarding webOS in the next few months, so where does that leave the HP TouchPad?
Those holding out for the HP TouchPad 2 will likely be waiting a bit. HP did touch on the future of tablets during a conference call with analysts yesterday, but it appears that it will be focusing on devices running Windows 8.
"I think we need to be in the tablet business, and we're certainly going to be there with Windows 8," Whitman said during a conference call with analysts. "We're going to make a run at this [tablet] business."
As for webOS, HP will likely have a decision "in the next couple of months," she said.
At full price, the TouchPad didn't have much success, hence HP's decision to ditch the pricey tablet. But when the fire sales started, consumers (including yours truly) clamored to get their hands on a relatively good tablet at $99 and $149 price points. If you had $500 to spend on a tablet, the iPad offered a much richer experience, but at less than $100, the TouchPad was a great deal. As a result, HP quickly sold out of the tablets at rock-bottom prices, prompting the company to promise one last batch of TouchPads, though we're still waiting on those.
So is that it? At this point, it appears that the true HP TouchPad has reached the end of the road. HP might produce a tablet that looks like the TouchPad, but it'll have Windows inside rather than webOS. Last week, Fox News' Clayton Morris said HP was testing Windows 8 on TouchPads. "Internally there's been discussion about reviving the defunct tablets or building new devices with Windows 8 in mind," he wrote.
Windows 8, however, is not expected to make its debut until late next year at the earliest. At that point, we'll probably have another iteration of the iPad in the market and possibly a followup to the Amazon Kindle Fire. HP will have to come up with something pretty snazzy to compete.
During yesterday's call, Whitman said HP's focus will be on a device that is equally appealing to IT departments and consumers. Sometimes the devices that consumers want to use—like the iPad or iPhone—don't always mesh well with the security needs of a particular company, but HP aims to change that, Whitman said.