HP Developing Windows 8 Tablets and Ultrabooks
Right after HP revealed that it's keeping the PC division under the same roof, the company revealed plans for a Windows 8 tablet and ultrabooks.
Thursday during a conference call explaining why it will be beneficial to keep the Personal Systems Group in-house, HP CEO Meg Whitman confirmed that the company has no plans to bring the TouchPad tablet back from the dead. In fact, HP will use Windows 8 instead of the defunct webOS going forward, but it's still unclear whether the company plans to retain the "TouchPad" branding, or go with something else.
"I think we need to be in the tablet business and we're certainly going to be there with Windows 8," she said. "We're going to make another run at this business."
As for webOS, its future is still up in the air according to the conference call. But now that HP has made its final decision concerning the PC division, Whitman said the next order of business is to evaluate the platform it acquired from Palm. Right now HP is still working on the software, pumping out updates to current tablet and smartphone owners.
As indicated earlier, HP may license out the software to third parties much like Microsoft does with Windows Phone, and is supposedly negotiating with those companies now. But as of this writing, there hasn't been an official nibble made known to the press, nor has HP publicly announced that any kind of potential licensing deal is actually on the menu.
Is HP holding out to use webOS on ultrabooks? During Thursday's conference call, Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group, revealed that the company is "very focused" on the "ultramobile" space of sub-17 millimeter notebooks. He also admitted to the pressure HP is currently facing in the short term thanks to the "hangover" caused by its August 18 revelation of exploring a spin-off.
"HP had yet to announce its intentions for the Ultrabook market and has been notably quiet as Lenovo, Asus, Acer, and Toshiba have all announced new ultra-thin models," Deron Kershaw, an analyst at GAP Intelligence, said in a research note.
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captaincharisma cool time to get ready for the next HP tablet firesale that will take place i say mid December :)Reply -
captaincharisma jsheridanGood to hear, I think that HP makes quality productsReply
i guess you never owned any of there desktop PC's then
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captaincharisma otacon72I find it funny that people slam HP yet they are 2nd only to Acer in PC shipments..lolReply
there 2nd because people are always looking for the cheapest computers. HP manages to keep them cheap with low quality parts -
jasonpwns captaincharismathere 2nd because people are always looking for the cheapest computers. HP manages to keep them cheap with low quality partsReply
I assume you'll say compaq is cheap too? Sorry, but back in 06 I had a compaq computer walmart one $300. I don't use any of the parts now, except the case (custom built mostly), but guess what? The hard drive is still working, the processor is still working, the motherboard is still working, the ram still works, and heck the power supply was still working when I sold it last year. What was this about cheap parts? I guess the compaq division of HP in 06 used more quality parts right? -
speakmymind i owned a compaq, and the motherboard died after a year of light use. the fan was cranking very loud, even when the 5% of cpu was used. i don't have any issue with it, as long as i don't see it. hp compaq indeed has the decent quality.Reply -
legos09 I find it funny that people slam HP yet they are 2nd only to Acer in PC shipments..lol
Sorry.. but you are wrong.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-becomes-the-third-largest-PC-manufacturer-worldwide.61906.0.html -
de5_Roy hp should get out ot the confusion they created with the rumor to spin off their pc business and get back their customers' confidence before they jump back on tablet pc business(which they allegedly never dropped out of). :)Reply -
stevelord My office is outfitted all with HP Elite SFF Core i7 desktops. They've been solid for the last year.Reply
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quantum mask I hope this works out, but deep down I know it won't. Of all the laptops I've worked on, the HPs have always been the most problematic for me. I agree with the comment that the reason they sold so well is because they kept their prices low. And you always, ALWAYS, get what you pay for.Reply