Jon Rubinstein, head of Hewlett-Packard’s Palm unit, gave the audience at the San Francisco D:Dive Into Mobile a glimpse into the inner workings behind the HP and Palm brands, though revealed little about future roadmaps, according to a number of media reports.
Rubinstein — the CEO of Palm before it was purchased by HP this summer, and the man who spearheaded the company’s Palm Pre and WebOS efforts — did confirm that the Palm tablet running a version WebOS will come to market in 2011, but the industry has been expecting such a device for some time now.
Since being acquired by HP, the only new product to emerge has been the Palm Pre 2 — a smartphone that, while running an updated version of the well-liked WebOS platform, aroused little excitement from consumers, as it didn’t seem to depart very much (in appearance, anyway) from the original Pre or Pre Plus.
According to the Inquirer, Rubinstein took the stage in a "fighting mood," and said that in the next 12 months, HP will launch several "radically different devices," including the tablet and several smartphones. The Pre 2, it was implied, shouldn’t be taken as the team’s best effort.
For more, read the eWeek article: HP’s Rubinstein: WebOS Tablet, New Smartphones Coming in 2011.