This one design failure will block it from wide corporate adoption.  It just looks and feels cheap – and in the corporate world (especially the Sr. Management arena) what you use tells volumes about you and quick decisions are formed – no serious exec or Sr. manager will use one of these in public.  It would be like wearing a suit from K-Mart to a Board Meeting.The hardware design is unfortunate, as WebOS is a better alternative to Androids garbage – but iOS still trumps it in maturity and stability.  In a IT world where we want to provide at least 2 options for each platform – WebOS is that second option.  The iPad is a runaway success for our on the go employees, but some are holding out because of their dislike for Apple.  These people want a real tablet alternative (as opposed to anything running Android) and HP may fit their needs.  It is not a hacked together port of a failing desktop OS (Linux) but a well designed mobile OS.  It is enterprise friendly and easy to set up and has none of the problems Android has with the “overlays” being used to hide the Androids UGLINESS from the end user. Unfortunately, users will find that with only about 300 native apps, the TouchPad is starving for stuff to make it useful – hopefully that will come quickly.

This release of the TouchPad is unique in that the design screams low end consumer market, but the environment is deeply entrenched in the Enterprise world, as are most of the apps available.  It may be a inroad device for businesses without any technical savvy to be able to support iOS devices or it may just be a sounding device by HP to see if there is a real market for them to get into.  Either way – this is a device to watch, but hold off buying one if you have an aversion to Blue Light Specials.