HP nearly confirms a webOS tablet for next month

By Molly McHugh January 13, 2011

We told you last month that a Fox report claimed an HP, webOS-based tablet was on its way, and we may have been onto something. While HP made no such announcement at CES, an interview with Hewlett-Packard executive vice president Todd Bradley at the event gives us reason to believe an iPad competitor from the developer is coming – February 9.

In an interview with CNBC, Bradley was asked about his company’s entry into tablets. After claiming HP is “totally focused on the tablet market,” Bradley then said that on February 9 we can expect a public announcement. And when asked if an HP tablet could hold its own against Apple, Bradley responded, “You and I will talk about that on the ninth.”

So why didn’t HP choose CES for its introduction? Over-saturation. It sounds like HP wants a little more focus on this launch, and that a tablet will only be a piece of the “ecosystem” the company wants to create. This seems reminiscent of the Microsoft keynote at CES; the long-awaited Microsoft tablet announcement turned out to be more of an introduction of various tablet-PC devices.

While he didn’t give up many other specifics in the interview, Bradley did admit that HP bought webOS last summer with the intention of tablet development in mind.

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Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…

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