HP puts Android tablet on hold

HP has apparently delayed its Android tablet, which it originally planned to release by the end of this year, sources in the know tell All Things Digital.

There’s no indication of what led to the decision, but the safest bet is that HP didn’t want to spread itself thin by developing tablets for multiple platforms. Following its Palm acquisition announcement, HP reportedly canceled its planned Windows 7 tablet months ago. The company went on to announce that it would release a WebOS tablet by October, so it likely wants to focus on that release for this year.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":198902,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,mobile,","session":"D"}']

HP isn’t giving up on Android completely. From what we can gather, the project isn’t dead, it’s just being delayed until 2011. With so many other manufacturers working on Android tablets — including Acer, Asus, LG, and Dell — HP may want to wait until it can offer something completely different, and not just another slate that runs Android.

HP CTO Phil McKinney spoke at our MobileBeat conference this week in San Francisco, and while he didn’t show off any new products, he reiterated the company’s commitment to WebOS devices. It makes sense for HP to focus on WebOS, since it’s the only company that can use Palm’s software, and the OS is well suited to the tablet experience.

If HP wants to be different when it comes to tablets, WebOS is the answer.