Article by Jack Albanian of Expert Fortran

Big news in the tablet PC world hit when it was announced that the HP TouchPad will more than likely be premiering the very first Facebook tablet app; a shocking announcement considering just how popular the Apple iPad is with tablet users. It has been reported that tablet users have been asking for an iPad compatible Facebook app for over a year now so when word broke that an app was in production it naturally made sense that it was in production for the Apple product. iPad users were completely dismayed, however, to learn that the app was being designed to be compatible with the HP TouchPad tablet, set to hit the market on July 1^st.

Tablet owners are confused by whether or not this is an oversight on behalf of Apple-native app designers or a brilliant move that fills a whole in the tablet market by HP. The best answer is both; Apple missed the mark and let HP slide in under the radar. Facebook representatives have confirmed that the app was developed and tested by HP, not in collaboration with Facebook itself, so there is no knowing how long HP has identified a huge “want” in the tablet market and been working to fill it.

Screenshots of the Facebook app being run on a yet to be released HP TouchPad show a polished and performance ready application that seems to run on par with most mobile Facebook applications. HP’s app will be run on the WebOS that was purchased previously with Palm.