HP-Palm WebOS Notebook, Netbook Training + More WebOS Tablet News - The UpStream

HP-Palm WebOS Notebook, Netbook Training + More WebOS Tablet News

posted Tuesday Jan 25, 2011 by Nicholas DiMeo

HP-Palm WebOS Notebook, Netbook Training + More WebOS Tablet News

You know, having your entire company's mobile device fleet operate on the webOS platform and following the HP-Palm merger from the beginning has made us pay close attention to what's been going on with our favorite mobile operating system. Not only did we bring you news last year that we should be seeing an HP-Palm webOS Tablet sometime in the near future but we also presented you news that HP-Palm wanted more webOS devices as well. Well now snooping through the HP website led me to the webOS Central, which contains webOS 10x training videos for stores carrying those products. A problem that has plagued Palm from the beginning was differentiating themselves and presenting it in a way that the average consumer can understand. Luckily, the HP merger has done a lot of good for the Palm brand and this training site certainly is one of the benefits.

The site contains videos starting with webOS 101, which is a basic overview and explanation of the platform, and also includes a lot of subliminal messages hinting towards more devices to come with webOS on them (which we've all pretty much expected already). The exciting part about it is that some of the videos explain a world in which a mobile phone, tablet and netbook could all live as a "friendly little product family".

Want to learn more about the webOS Central and see some cool pictures of a possible webOS tablet that could be announced at the HP-Palm Feb 9th event? Click after the break!

The cool thing about webOS Central is that it really breaks down the platform for any salesperson to explain it to a customer. The video webOS 105 explains how to properly showcase webOS to a potential customer, by showing the Just Type features as well as how to quickly access various functions in the operating system. The Central even has some one-sheet print-ups that explain Synergy and Just Type and even go on to list what's new in webOS 2.0 and the upcoming US debut of the Pre 2.

What's the incentive for salespeople using these training guides? Those individuals can rack up points that they can then use to buy HP-Palm merchandise like a Touchstone charger of even an HP Mini 210. Not feeling the new tech smell? Gift cards can also be purchased using the points they get from going through the different modules.

The best part of all of this is that webOS can gain more exposure through the salespeople explaining the benefits and features of the platform versus the iPhones, Blackberries and Androids of the mobile universe.

In other related HP-Palm news, if you haven't heard already, HP-Palm has announced a date of February 9th, on which they encourage you to "Think big. Think small. Think beyond." We all expect this to be some kind of webOS hardware roadmap, including a tablet of sorts. Well, if the training hints and the event hints weren't enough, we have heard from those ever so infamous sources that a 9-inch tablet named Topaz and a 7-inch little sister codenamed Opal might be under the cloth that is waiting to be lifted on Feb 9th. We have a picture that we can see the same no-button look that we thought we would, a front-facing camera, micro USB port and a glossy back cover. Also we learned that both tablets would have "premium audio" and a 1.2GHz processor (no specifications yet) in tow.

Of course, it should be noted that these images and information that we have gotten wind of has been denounced by HP to the point where they've even pointed out Engadget by name to tell them they're wrong. We were able to trace some of the images to a phone concept art contest website.

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We have been additionally informed that we should see these guys hit the HP-Palm offices in June with AT&T 3G, Wi-Fi and Verizone LTE products out in September of this year and in July of next year for the AT&T LTE model. An announcement in February for a September launch? I sure hope these tablets really do come to fruition and will back a huge punch. They're going to be up against the iPad 2, the BlackBerry PlayBook and the even-though-it's-crap-people-will-still-buy-it Motorola Xoom. We'll see what happens and will of course be bringing you news from the event on the 9th!

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