The 9.7” TouchPad coming on July 1 from Hewlett-Packard (HP) will be quickly followed by a 7” tablet from HP in August, according to a report.
Taiwan Economic News on Friday cited an unnamed subcontractor for Inventec Corp. , a PC maker in Taiwan, for information about the smaller tablet. The story said Inventec has “received big-ticket orders for tablet PCs from HP,” for both the 9.7” TouchPad and a 7-in. model launching in August.
The announced TouchPad runs WebOS, but no other details were available on the 7” model.
Inventec and HP could not be reached for comment.
HP has not announced a 7” tablet, although that form factor is becoming fairly common alongside tablets with screens close to 10 inches in size.
The popular iPad has a 9.7” touchscreen, but the Samsung Galaxy Tab started with a 7” version, then moved to a 10.1” version and in March Samsung announced an 8.9” version.
The BlackBerry PlayBook also has a 7” touchscreen, while the Motorola Xoom has a 10.1” screen. The Cisco Cius will be 7” when it finally ships in July.