Hewlett-Packard (HP) yesterday announced it has completed its US$1.2 billion acquisition of Palm and revealed plans to take on Apple�s iPad with webOS-powered tablet PCs. �HP's global scale and financial strength plus Palm's award-winning webOS experience, as well as its acclaimed Pre and Pixi smartphone product lines, enhance HP's ability to participate more aggressively in the highly profitable, US$100 billion smartphone and connected mobile device markets,� noted a statement. �Under Jon Rubinstein, former Palm chairman and chief executive officer, the Palm global business unit will report to [Todd] Bradley [executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP]. Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.�
Earlier this year, HP unveiled a prototype tablet, called the �Slate,� that ran on Microsoft�s Windows operating system but hasn't provided many details since. Speculation has mounted that HP plans to reshape the project in light of the Palm acquisition. Certainly HP � the world�s largest PC manufacturer � is making a major move into the mobile space. Earlier this week it announced plans to buy mobile music provider Melodeo.
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