I have to admit, I'm kind of rooting for HP, the TouchPad, and the webOS. Apple needs strong competitors in the tablet market to help push things forward, and I think companies with control of both hardware and software are more likely to produce high-quality products. For year,s I've wondered why nobody was trying to replicate some of Apple's product-creation success, and that's exactly what HP is doing with its webOS strategy.

That said, the TouchPad is clearly a first effort. I don't really have any complaints about the hardware. It's bulkier than the iPad 2 but not unpleasantly so, and I think Apple's proven the appeal of a tablet with a 10-inch screen and a 4:3 aspect ratio. HP's accessories are solidly built, its Touchstone wireless-charging technology is clever, and even the product packaging is elegant.

HP has gotten a lot right here, but on the software side, it's not just all there yet. The interface isn't responsive enough, app launching is slow, and there are too many other quirks that scream that this is a 1.0 release of a tablet operating system. (Even HP seems to acknowledge this: The company says it is already readying an over-the-air update to webOS that will fix bugs and improve performance.) Some aspects of what HP is doing with the webOS are really interesting, including the Synergy feature that brings all online-service data together into a unified interface and the superior app-switching interface.

Is there any reason for a prospective iPad user to buy a TouchPad today? I can't see it. In a head-to-head comparison with the original iPad on launch day, the TouchPad might win out due to its dual-core processor and multitasking support. But today's iPad 2 has both, along with tens of thousands of tablet-optimized apps and almost none of the quirks that the TouchPad currently exhibits.

So what I'm saying is, I'm glad that HP finally shipped the TouchPad. If it can get developers engaged in its platform and iron out all the bugs while also growing webOS as a smartphone operating system, it might really have something here. But that's a story about the future, and about potential. For now, the TouchPad is just another iPad competitor that can't measure up.