14 DAY TRIAL // The first tablet PC that would arrive on the market with the HP/Palm webOS platform on board might start shipping as soon as March 2011, some of the latest reports around the Internet suggest.
Apparently, HP and Palm are done with the development of the device, and they are set to kick off ODM production and shipments in about two months from now on.
Previously, HP was rumored to plan having the first webOS tablet PC on shelves sometime in fall, after being ready for production as soon as June.
However, a recent article on DigiTimes suggests that HP will have Taiwan-based Inventec kick off shipments of the device as soon as March.
Sources familiar with these plans also noted that software testing would follow after that, and that only then would the actual launch timings become available.
These estimates are in line with early reports on the upcoming webOS tablet PC, which suggested that HP might plan on making the device available for purchase as soon as March.
However, a recent article on Engadget, which brought to the spotlight the first photos with the upcoming webOS device, pointed at a September release.
The news site suggested that there will be at least two tablet PCs launched on shelves with the webOS platform on board, and that one of them, codenamed Topaz, could land sooner than the other one, referred to as Opal.
Topaz should pack a 9-inch touchscreen display, along with a 1.2 GHz application processor, but no info on other hardware specifications it would feature emerged for the time being.
The webOS platform was launched in early 2009, and arrived on the market in June the same year, on Palm's Pre smartphone.
The Sunnyvale mobile phone maker was purchased last year by HP, and the development of webOS shifted focus on other devices beside smartphones too, including tablet PCs and more.