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HP is fiddling with Windows 8 on Touchpads
ONE-TIME TABLET MAKER HP is considering running Windows 8 on its recently discontinued Touchpad tablet.
HP's decision to dump its WebOS hardware business had left the company selling Touchpads at bargain basement prices. Now it seems that some HP engineers are playing around with loading Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system on the device in a bid to show it has a future.
HP seemed to be caught out by demand for its cut-priced Touchpads, with the firm deciding to make a second batch of Touchpads, though there's no word on when those will go to sale. Now if it is playing around with Windows 8 on tablets, there's a chance that either HP will revive the Touchpad or design another tablet altogether.
While HP's new CEO, Meg Whitman decides on whether to backtrack on former boss Leo Apotheker's wholesale changes to the firm, some in HP's WebOS team are claiming that the firm is talking to buyers. The always fair and balanced Fox News claims HP is meeting with HTC, LG, Nikon and Amazon to discuss a potential sale.
If HP is indeed talking to companies such as HTC and Amazon, then it is likely that the WebOS operating system will pop-up in tablets and smartphones in the future. However HP's poor treatment of what is considered one of the best smartphone operating systems around would not have endeared it to potential buyers. µ
Tags: Microsoft
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HP might as well tinker with Win8. They've got the hardware. They've got some engineers kicking their heels. It might be that Win8 turns out to be highly saleable, and they'd not want to miss out. They've got nothing to lose, and perhaps something to win.
But it doesn't look like a well planned, customer-friendly strategy. However, HP haven't really had one of those for a long time.
HP's treatment of WebOS does not inspire me to buy any of their products. If they do not release the Touchpads at fire sale prices as they indicated they would, and attempt any sort of bait and switch, I will purchase any competitor's product but theirs.
It's not like anyone would be surprised if Dell were testing OSX for Intel on an Optiplex, no one would bat an eye.
The Touchpad is a dual-core 1.2-1.5Ghz ARM8 device with 1GB of RAM and hardware that HP is intimately familiar with. Getting the ARM version of Win8 running on the TP is a perfect practice run and test of Win8's performance.
As a WebOS fanboy, that the Palm hardware legacy is used only to validate Windows of all things is salt in the wounds.