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Hewlett-Packard is preparing to start a remote new music storage attribute with its approaching TouchPad tablet, one particular which will locally cache music that the user is more than likely to listen to.
The clouds proceed to roll in. Although queries still swirl regarding how Apple and Google will respond to Amazon‘s recently launched Cloud Drive and Cloud Player services, details are starting to emerge about other competitors’ plans in the remote person storage arena. Today brings word that Hewlett-Packard will be using cloud servers for audio storage when its webOS-powered HP TouchPad tablet arrives this summer.
The news comes from a Powerpoint presentation being sent around to HP Small & Medium Business customers previewing what’s coming up, PreCentral reports. The slideshow reveals plans for an HP Movie Store and an HP Songs Store. The notes for the latter mention built-in music syncing using cloud servers to remotely store content.
It is hardly surprising at this point to hear that a tech company is embracing the cloud, but HP will offer a few features that trump what Amazon’s recently launched initiative is capable of so far. The TouchPad will use a “smart-caching” to locally store the music that the person is probably to listen to. There will also be the option of streaming new music that isn’t actually owned. The service will apparently extend to HP smartphones as well at some point,
Office 2010 Professional Plus, probable after they’ve all been updated to webOS 3.0 alongside the TouchPad.
As of now, Apple continues to maintain a stranglehold on the tablet space with its (deservedly) popular iPad. Cloud syncing won’t make or break the success of the TouchPad, but if recent reports of a $499 price tag and June kick off are true, it will certainly arrive priced to compete, and with features and hardware specifications that trump the Apple device on several fronts.