Report: HP readying 7-inch TouchPad tablet

By Geoff Duncan Published June 27, 2011

HP TouchPad — Image used with permission by copyright holder

HP’s 9.7-inch TouchPad isn’t set to reach customers until the end of the week, but the Taiwan Economic News reports that PC is already gearing up for a possible 7-inch version of the device, to be launched in August. According to the report, Taiwan’s Inventec has been contracted to supply 400,000 to 450,000 TouchPad tablet PCs per month, and will also be supplying HP with an unspecified 7-inch tablet.

No other details of the possible 7-inch tablet were revealed. An industry insider cited in the article claims HP plans to order about three million tablets from Inventec this year. HP is Inventec’s largest PC customer.

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HP’s TouchPad tablet is the company’s first move to take Palm’s webOS from the world of smartphones to tablets; industry reaction so far has been mixed, but since the units aren’t yet on sale it’s too early to assess consumer reactions. HP just announced it is developing its own Pivot magazine for the TouchPad to enable users to discover apps and make good use of the device.

No other technical details of HP’s possible 7-inch TouchPad tablet have been revealed. HP’s 9.7-inch TouchPad features a 1.3 GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor, a 1,024 by 768-pixel display, a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking, along with Palm’s webOS.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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