MSFN Forum: HP to Microsoft Sayonara?

HP made its play for the lucrative mobile market with a number of products that will be powered using its own operating system, sending a message to Microsoft that the clock is ticking for its Windows OS. During a two-hour presentation at a disused fort situated by San Francisco Bay, the world's biggest technology company unveiled two new phones and its long awaited tablet computer that will be driven by its webOS. The Veer is tiny, the size of a credit card and the Pre3 is aimed at the smartphone market.

The centre piece of the whole presentation at Fort Mason was the TouchPad. Apart from all the specs, I can't really say how it handles because the demos in the backstage area were done by HP professionals and we mere mortals were not even allowed to touch them.

Early industry word is that the TouchPad will open up the competition in the tablet market. Sure Apple dominates with its iPad, which it got out of the gate months before anyone else. Since April last year the company has sold almost 15m devices.

RIM's Playbook, which should find a solid foothold in the enterprise market, is due out in March for around $500.

Google is putting up a good fight for market share now that it has finally unleashed its Honeycomb operating system to developers, an OS specifically designed for tablet computers.

Morotola's Xoom, which was the darling of the consumer gadget fest CES in Las Vegas last month and is powered by Android's Honeycomb, is due to hit shelves next week. Still no word on price though. However, early rumours peg it at roughly $800. The basic iPad is $499 and a survey earlier in the year by the Consumer Electronics Association said that the sweet spot was between $500 and $700.

Full story: BBC Blog