Why HP Hurricane, WebOS Tablet so Special?

There is a rumor that HP is going to get rid of its Windows 7 based tablet in favor of PalmOS based Tablet. The new WebOs based Tablet is expected to release Q1, 2011. The specs or price of the new Tablet is not known yet. HP canceled Windows 7 based Tablet plan after it acquired PalmOS for 1.2 billion. HP’s Windows 7 based Tablet was demonstrated by Microsoft CEO in January.

Like the iPhone OS, Palm’s WebOS was designed mainly as a multitouch operating system that makes it more attractive to smartphone developers. Windows 7 is primarily designed for desktop and Laptop even though it has multitouch support. Definitely, WebOS based Tablet is going to be a tough competitor to Apple iPad compared to Windows 7 device. However, there is an application gap between iPad and WebOS platform. Although, many developers like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; and productivity apps such as Evernote are using WebOS to build application, but, it is nowhere close to 20,000 applications that can be used on iPad. Apple sold more than 1 million iPad in USA alone, one month after its launch.

In order to give Apple a tough time, HP has to make sure that more developers build application for WebOS platform. Also, they need to convince users to try new WebOS based tablet.