HP TouchPad 4G Passes Through the FCC At Last

The HP TouchPad tablet has been making the news a lot recently, though for reasons that HP probably could do without, though this newest appearance might finally bring some better tidings.

Those consumers that have been keeping track of the tablet market will no doubt have heard at least once of the HP TouchPad.

Based on the ARM architecture and loaded with the WebOS operating system that HP got after buying Palm, the product has, unfortunately, not been doing so well.

In fact, price cuts have been reported repeatedly, with the latest one leaving the product at under the sum of $400.

All in all, these tidings do not bode very well for the upcoming, enhanced model, the one set to support a faster wireless technology.

Dubbed TouchPad 4G, it will also have an overall better performance, thanks to a new CPU (with a clock speed of 1.5 GHz instead of 1.2 GHz).

As discovered by the folks over at Engadget, this very item has emerged in a FCC filing which makes it rather clear that AT&T will be getting its hands on it.

Unfortunately, an exact launch date is still unavailable, though previous leaks suggested this very month as the ETA.

It is interesting to note that a listing of the HP TouchPad 4G emerged a while ago, with a price of $700, quite a bit higher than what the TouchPad now sells for (and even compared to its original price).

Granted, that mark might slide down in the same manner as the WiFi-only slate did, but this will not exactly appease early TouchPad buyers that got faced with the product becoming so much more affordable just a week or two after they got it.

Whether or not this causes weak early TouchPad 4G sales (users might think it wise to wait for price cuts this time) remains to be seen.