After launching to mixed reviews a couple of weeks ago, HP has now announced that AT&T will provide its wireless customers with a version of the HP TouchPad tablet. Today"s press release announces that the HP TouchPad 4G will be released "in time for back to school" but a specific release date and a price for the WebOS based device has yet to be announced.
The HP TouchPad 4G will have 32 GB of storage, a 1.5 Ghz processor,GPS and most importantly support for both WiFi and AT&T"s HSPA+ wireless network. The HP TouchPad 4G will not have support for AT&T"s upcoming and much faster LTE wireless network. AT&T customers will be able to choose from either prepaid or postpaid wireless plans and the HP TouchPad 4G will also be able to link up to 20,000 free WiFi hotspots owned by AT&T. Pricing for the wireless network was not yet announced.
The WiFi only versions of the HP TouchPad went on sale on July 1 but so far the reviews of the device have been mixed with most saying that the tablet does not surpass Apple"s popular iPad tablet. HP"s senior vice-president Jon Rubenstein wrote a note to HP employees soon after the reviews came in pledging that the WebOS experience would improve via software updates. However, it now looks like HP has lost patience with Rubenstein at this gig. On Monday it was announced that he would become the company"s new senior vice president in charge of Product Innovation in the Personal Systems Group. That means that won"t have any more control of the WebOS division.