At its Wednesday launch event, Hewlett-Packard (HP) marked its foray into the tablet arena, with the unveiling of its 10-inch iPad-like tablet – TouchPad. The tablet, the price of which remains undisclosed, will likely hit the markets this summer. 

The TouchPad is a 1.6-pound, 9.7-inch touch-screen device which comes with a webcamera and virtual keyboard. HP is pitching the “breakthrough” device, which looks like an iPad, as a rival to the iPad and Android tablets.

Powered by the WebOS operating system, the TouchPad – which is apparently a coming out of sorts for Palm - is one of the first products to be launched by HP after its last-year acquisition of Palm for $1.2 billion.

To highlight TouchPad support, HP – which also unveiled two smartphones, the credit-card-sized Veer and the business-centered Pre3, at the Wednesday launch event - has also revealed that app developers like Time magazine, DreamWorks Animation and Box.net, are creating apps for the forthcoming tablet.

However, expressing apprehension about the success of the TouchPad, Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, said: “The TouchPad is a credible entry, but does it build a huge following of developers (like Apple)?”

Pointing to the intensifying competition in the tablet market, Kay added that the TouchPad, and even the iPad, face competition from Motorola’s forthcoming Xoom as well as tablets from Samsung, Toshiba and other manufacturers.