HP recently acquired Palm, and the company made no secret of how pleased it was to have gotten its hands on Palm's WebOS mobile operating system. Former-CEO Mark Hurd was quoted as saying HP didn't buy Palm to get into the smartphone business. Rather, they purchased it for the IP.
"The WebOS is one of the two ground-up pieces of software that is built as a web operating environment…We have tens of millions of HP small form factor web-connected devices…Now imagine that being a web-connected environment where now you can get a common look and feel and a common set of services laid against that environment. That is very valuable proposition."
And it seems to be full steam ahead when it comes to HP's first WebOS device. The company supposedly told employees that it will be launching a WebOS tablet in the first quarter of 2011. Engadget cites several trusted sources that say Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley mentioned the launch, along with codename 'Project Hurricane,' during an all-hands employee meeting earlier this week.
The 'Hurricane' moniker matches up quite nicely with May reports that said HP would launch a WebOS tablet called Hurricane in Q3 of this year. HP recently made headlines by filing for a trademark on the name PalmPad.