HP will be working on an Android tablet, according to an anonymous source reported first by ReadWrite. This would be HP's first Android-launched tablet, and, given HP's recently released 14-inch Chromebook, this could be a sign that HP is going with Google for more of its mobile operating systems.
Citing anonymous sources, the report by ReadWrite says that the tablet will be announced soon could be released by mid to late 2013. Apparently the device will be based on the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4, with a fifth processor for electricity management.
Right now HP is lagging behind in the mobile device category of its electronics line-up. On July 1, 2011 it launched the 9.7-inch HP TouchPad, which ran Palm's webOS out of the box. Months later though, some customers began receiving some TouchPads with Android installed. Android Gingerbread and then Ice Cream Sandwich were later ported to the HP TouchPad.
However, HP's TouchPad sales failed to meet expectations at its release, and it discontinued its webOS lineup, and sold the vast remaining stockpiles of TouchPads for fire sale prices.
Since then, HP has offered the Envy, a laptop/tablet hybrid that runs Windows 8. With this new rumored tablet, (as well as a possibility that HP may try its hand in the smartphone business after this year), Android seems to be the choice. It's been speculated that HP is moving to Android after Microsoft released the Surface tablet itself, which competes with other companies' Windows 8 tablets.
As we previously reported HP also recently launched the HP Pavilion Chromebook 14, a laptop running Google's Chrome OS with the largest screen of its kind. HP's vast personal computer business still comes with Microsoft operating systems, though.
Via InformationWeek