UPDATE: H-P Launches Two Phones, Tablet Built With WebOS Software
February 09 2011 - 2:48PM
Dow Jones News
SAN FRANCISCO (DOW JONES)--Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) on
Wednesday unveiled two smartphones and a tablet computer built with
its Palm mobile operating system, a move that thrusts the computer
giant into a burgeoning market dominated by Apple Inc. (AAPL) and
Google Inc. (GOOG)
H-P introduced a credit card-sized phone dubbed Veer, a larger
Pre3 phone for the professionals and the 10-inch TouchPad tablet
computer.
The three devices were built with H-P's webOS operating system,
a key asset the company acquired when it bought handheld pioneer
Palm last summer for $1.2 billion.
Many observers have praised webOS as a well-designed platform,
but H-P will have an uphill battle to compete with Apple's iPhone
and phones built with Google's Android mobile operating system,
which it makes available to hardware makers for free, and Research
in Motion Ltd.'s (RIMM, RIM.T) BlackBerry franchise.
The top smartphone operating system remains Nokia Corp.'s (NOK,
NOK1V.HE) Symbian, but the company ceded much of its market
position as customers opt for newer alternatives, according to a
recent study by Gartner.
Android made the largest stride, showing a 10-fold jump in the
number of smartphone sales last year, vaulting into the No. 2 spot.
RIM and Apple followed.
H-P's TouchPad will enter a market dominated by Apple's iPad
tablet, which has sold more than 14 million units since it was
introduced just over nine months ago.
Research In Motion is preparing to launch a new tablet dubbed
PlayBook, while a slew of other hardware makers are set to
introduce rival devices built with the latest version of Android,
which has been optimized for tablets.
The first of these is expected to be Motorola Mobility Holdings
Inc.'s (MMI) Xoom tablet, rumored to be going on sale for $799.99
later this month.
Research firm ISuppli, a unit of IHS Inc. (IHS), forecasts 57
million tablets will be sold this year and 171 million in 2014,
putting pressure on H-P to make its mark soon or get left further
behind.
-By Scott Morrison, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118;
scott.morrison@dowjones.com
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