It appears that Hewlett-Packard's multi-OS strategy will actually be a duo-OS strategy, at least when it comes to mobile devices. Android is no longer on the table, but Windows and webOS still are. HP is on track to deliver a tablet computer running webOS early next year, as well as a Windows-based tablet that will ship sooner, former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein told the Financial Times. It has abandoned a project to launch a smartphone based on Google's Android open source operating system and there will be no tablet based on the system, Rubinstein said. The man has been in charge of HP's mobility group ever since the Palm acquisition.
We know the HP Slate running Windows 7 is still on its way, though we have yet to see anything but a prototype shown off. As for the webOS tablet coming in 2011, a single detail slipped out by accident during the company's Analyst Meeting. "We've already announced the expansion of our future product portfolio well beyond smartphones," said HP EVP Todd Bradley, according to PreCentral. "We'll have a webOS-powered PalmPad that will be set for release early in 2011." HP filed for the PalmPad trademark in July, but of course nothing is official till it's announced.