HP's TouchPad cloud music, video plans leak in presentation
HP's intention to build a webOS cloud media locker, and possibly beat Apple and Google to the feature, was given more definitive support late Friday after a leaked presentation. A pair of slides describing the TouchPad reportedly showed …
Context & Ripple Effects
HP's TouchPad strategy had already been framed around more than the tablet itself: January coverage pointed to cloud storage alongside Touchstone, Beats audio and phone integration, while HP formally announced the TouchPad in February. The leaked presentation reportedly gives that cloud element a more specific purpose: music and video libraries.
If the slides are accurate, HP is positioning webOS as a device-and-library experience, not merely a TouchPad hardware launch. That matters because a media locker can make a user's purchased or stored content part of the platform's appeal.
First-order effects
- HP would add cloud music and video access to the TouchPad's proposed feature set, extending the earlier cloud-storage pitch into a media service for webOS users.
- The report remains unconfirmed, so HP, Apple and Google face no established product change from the leak alone.
Second-order effects
- A cloud locker would make the competitive comparison for Apple and Google less about tablet hardware alone and more about whether each platform keeps users' media available across devices.
- For prospective TouchPad buyers, the value of HP's ecosystem would depend on the breadth and ease of the proposed music and video library access, rather than on the tablet's specifications alone.
Third-order effects
- If device makers pair tablets with persistent media libraries, digital collections become a mechanism for platform retention and raise the cost of moving between ecosystems.
- The report fits a shift toward cloud storage as a platform feature, where hardware launches increasingly rely on services to differentiate the underlying operating system.
The trend: Tablets are becoming service platforms in which cloud-based media libraries are used to bind content, devices and operating systems together.