HP jumps onto the shaky 'iPad rival' cart with first webOS tablet

US tech giant rolls out its TouchPad, seeking to dethrone the dominant Apple iPad and revive its slumping fortunes.

US technology giant Hewlett-Packard has rolled out its new TouchPad tablet computer, seeking to dethrone the dominant Apple iPad and revive its slumping fortunes.

The TouchPad went on sale yesterday in major US retailers such as Best Buy and Walmart as well as on Amazon.

It is expected to go on sale shortly in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany and Canada, and later this year it will become available in Australia, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore.

Unlike the iPad, the TouchPad supports Adobe's Flash video format.

It runs the webOS operating system, developed by Palm, the mobile-device pioneer that HP acquired last year for $US1.2 billion.

The TouchPad debuted to mixed reviews, suggesting it will have difficulty challenging the iPad and its numerous imitators.

ZDNet said while the webOS platform showed "real promise", it was "not as smooth as it needs to be, with occasional lags affecting the otherwise fluid user experience".

Most reviewers pointed out the lack of tablet apps available, some saying the number was as low as 200 while iPad users had more than 100,000 to choose from.

Last month, Apple said that it had sold 25 million iPads since releasing the first version of the device in April 2010.

Apple released its next-generation iPad 2 in March.

Besides the iPad, the market for tablet computers now includes the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the BlackBerry PlayBook, the Motorola Xoom and dozens of devices running Google's Android operating system.

HP's stock has slumped 12 per cent since the beginning of the year as many analysts have warned that the Palo Alto, California-based company is being overtaken by younger, nimbler rivals such as Apple and Dell.