HP Touchpad 7-Inch Version To Ship August?

The HP TouchPad was officially announced back in February to the delight of webOS fans. The 9.7-inch slate would be the company's first entry into the tablet market and would also bring with it a new webOS 3.0. Pre-orders for the tablet have already begun with a ship date set for July 1, and now a smaller 7-inch version may be taxiing on the runway for an August release.Taiwan Economic News today reported that Inventec Corp., a major Taiwanese subcontractor manufacturer for HP, has received a "big-ticket" order of tablets from HP for both the 9.7-inch model and a 7-inch model. The orders placed are for roughly 400,000 to 450,000 TouchPad tablets per month with the 7-inch model set for an August launch. Inventec is said to begin shipping tablets in June.

This report supports prior rumors that a 7-inch HP tablet codenamed Opal would arrive sometime in September. Details on the smaller tablet are unknown except that it will measure 180 x 144 x 13mm and have a 1024 x 768 capacitive touchscreen.

[via BGR]