HP to roll out first tablet to usePalm’s webOS operating system internationally over the coming year
The Wi-Fi version of HP’s highly anticipated Touchpad tablet will be available in the UK from mid July.
The tablet, the first to use the webOS operating system developed by Palm, will cost 399 for the version with 16GB of storage and 479 for the 32GB model.
The device will launch first in the US, Germany and France on July 1, before being made available in the UK, and then rolled out to Ireland, Spain, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore over the course of the year.
HP acquired Palm in April last year for $1.2 billion dollars. At the time, webOS was seen as one of the most compelling operating systems for smartphones despite the poor performance of handsets built by Palm, and many have been eagerly anticipating the system’s debut on a tablet device.
Palm Global Business Unit head Jon Rubinstein, the former CEO of Palm, said webOS makes the TouchPad a “compelling alternative” to other tablets.
He said: “The platform’s unmatched features and flexibility will continue to differentiate HP products from the rest of the market for both personal and professional use. This is only the beginning of what HP’s scale can do with webOS.”
