HP planning Windows 8 tablets; webOS future uncertain

[Shawn Knight]

HP is planning to release Windows 8 tablets once Microsoft launches their new operating system next year. This is good news for company faithful although HP’s WebOS mobile operating system remains in a state of uncertainty.

Former eBay chief and newly appointed CEO Meg Whitman made the announcement during a call with analysts after the company announced they would not be selling their PC business after all. Whitman believes that they are at the beginning stages of a new segment in personal computing and she doesn’t feel that it’s too late for HP to try again in the tablet market.

In addition to new Windows 8 tablets, HP will reevaluate multiple divisions in an effort to narrow their product line and focus on making fewer products with better quality. One of her observations is that HP dabbles into too many projects and simply tries to do too much. She is a firm believer in doing a small number of things really well instead of pushing out a lot of mediocre products.

Whitman further said that HP won’t be announcing any new plans before the end of November when their next earnings report is due.

Earlier this year, HP nixed their TouchPad tablet after less than two months on the market. The company slashed the tablet to $99 which prompted a fire sale across the US and Canada. There was also talk that HP would spin off their PC business under former CEO Léo Apotheker but that proved to be an unpopular decision among investors. Apotheker was ousted in mid September when Whitman took over the helm.

Meanwhile, HP is still unsure what the plans are for WebOS.

"We are continuing to focus on Microsoft-based tablet that we have and one that will develop on Windows based," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's personal systems group. "I think from a WebOS perspective that's kind of the next piece of work to complete.... The whole team of Meg, Cathie [Lesjak], myself, John Visentin are working very, very hard and as quickly as we can to make the right decisions about that product."

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https://www.techspot.com/news/46063-hp-planning-windows-8-tablets-webos-future-uncertain.html

 

[lawfer]

Wow, HP, you disappoint me.

 

[Guest]

Keep building and selling your TouchPad for $99 and you will become #1. I got one at that price and for the $$ it's awesome. For more money I wouldn't but one but if other people could buy them at $99 your app store would become #1 in a short period of time.

 

[Scshadow]

For those trying to pick up a touchpad, you should be happy to know all their online stock has been sold to Best Buy. After signing up for notifications, watching company tweets, listening to their promises of having 200,000 more units coming in, now we get the bird from HP. Want one from best buy? You have to buy a crappy hp laptop so you can buy a 32GB model at fire sale price. Return the laptop without the tablet and you pay the $600 original original retail price. Sorry, but if I am to pay Best Buy price for a crappy HP laptop, they should be giving me a touchpad. I'll need it for when my laptop crashes a couple weeks later.

 

[Guest]

HP has to try and find a way to get some of the money back that they lost on the $99 sale.
It is just business.

 

[theruck]

i wonder what antivirus solution will the tablet contain out of the box