When HP discontinued the TouchPad this summer and started selling the tablet at rock-bottom prices, a few customers got more than they bargained for. Some people who bought their $99 TouchPads apparently received a unit running not the webOS software they were expecting, but Google Android. Now HP appears to want to know where this mutant strain of Android TouchPads came from.
The existence of Android running on a TouchPad was a big deal. A whole mess of developers have been working hard to port the OS to the the tablet, with some success, since HP's decision has left webOS all but dead as a developer platform, and Android could be a path for the TouchPad to remain a useful device for years to come. Developers approached HP about the rogue tablets, claiming that Android's open-source license requires HP to release the source code for them.
In a response to a developer that was posted to an online forum, reported by DailyTech, the director of HP's open-source program office, Phil Robb, responded to the issue of the alleged Android TouchPads. He also says that HP has begun an internal investigation about them, and that HP never authorized the distribution (but, notably, not the creation) of any version of Android on the TouchPad.
According to an internal review, Robb says, all TouchPads shipped by HP were loaded with webOS and that none of were shipped with Android, even by mistake. It's not clear how Robb knows this, but the note says he suspects "some person or persons unknown" is responsible for sending out the Android TouchPads.
Robb goes on to tell the developer that HP isn't obligated to release any code since HP never authorized the distribution of any TouchPad running Android. He does say that HP "applauds" the efforts of developers to port Android to the device, but that the company (obviously) believes webOS provides a superior experience.
According videos posted online, the TouchPads running Android display the logo of the Qualcomm Innovation Center, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, which makes the processor that drives the tablet. Qualcomm hasn't confirmed any involvement.
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