Some HP developers decided to hack an iPad in order for it to be capable of running their WebOS – the operating system they run on the HP Touchpad. The result? WebOS runs twice as fast on iPad than Touchpad. That’s right folks, a device that is not meant to run WeBOS does a better job than HP’s own hardware.
It all adds up to a very disappointing foray into the tablet market for HP who felt the brunt of Best Buy announcing sales of only 25,000 Touchpads since its release.
A source speaking to The Next Web spoke of HP’s intentions to launch a 7″ version of the Touchpad called the Touchpad Go but these devices have since been canned. In fact, the tech guys at HP didn’t even back they Touchpad for success.
The hardware reportedly stopped the team from innovating beyond certain points because it was slow and imposed constraints, which was highlighted when webOS was loaded on to Apple’s iPad device and found to run the platform significantly faster than the device for which it was originally developed.
When HP announced its acquisition of Palm, the computing giant had already built the TouchPad hardware that sits on the shelves today. Basically, the TouchPad was a two-year old piece of hardware that the webOS team equipped with their tablet-friendly platform.
Last one out at the HP Touchpad innovation meeting, turn off the lights. Thanks.
