A picture recently shared by Best Buy's chief technology officer and Geek Squad founder, Robert Stephens, suggests the company is working on a tablet to sell under its Rocketfish brand. Not much is known about the device yet other than the fact that it bears a striking resemblance to the HP Slate and it is expected to run Google's Android platform.
The idea to develop a tablet reportedly began with the intention to use it internally by Best Buy employees as a communications tool, but the concept matured into something that could be sold to consumers as well. The decision makes sense given how the retailer is getting ready to launch its own 4G mobile data service early next year. Although we can't say built-in 4G connectivity is on the cards, at the very least they can market it with a portable WiMAX hotspot.
Best Buy's Rocketfish brand is known for selling rebranded products as cheap alternatives to name brand devices. Given how in terms of size, form factor, and connectors it closely resembles the HP State, some have suggested the latter is silently manufacturing the device as a way to test the waters in the consumer market. Then again, HP's tablet is expected to either use webOS or Windows 7 so at this point it all amounts to nothing more than conjectures.