HP rumored moving TouchPad to April, clashes with iPad

HP may have moved the TouchPad up to where it clashes with Apple, part suppliers said late Monday. Officially due to arrive in the summer, shipments would reportedly start in late March with a view to ship it sometime in April. The HP suppliers talking to Digitimes hadn't said what if anything had sparked the purported improved schedule.

The timing if accurate could lead to a more direct clash between the TouchPad and the next iPad, rumors of which have also given it a March release date that may slide to April. The two may end up providing two closely matched specs by both sharing 9.7-inch, 1024x768 screens and dual-core processors.

For the former Palm team now at HP, the timing would give it the first real opportunity to compete against the iPad with more evenly matched hardware. It launched the original Pre at a January 2009 event, but its inability to ship before June left any feature and performance advantage wasted once the iPhone 3GS shipped.

Doubts exist as to whether the TouchPad would be ready so soon. Both at its February 9 special event and at Mobile World Congress last week, HP refused to let users try the OS directly, owing largely to its unfinished state. The progress of webOS 3.0 isn't known, but HP would be under high pressure if it were to start shipping webOS 3.0 in March.