HP TouchPad's Second Chance Offers Office-Readiness

01.09.2011
When HP killed its WebOS Touchpad two weeks ago, then sold off remaining stock at $99 fire-sale prices, it seemed the tablet would be dead for good. But that's . The tablet is entering an odd state of zombie-hood as to meet "unfulfilled demand." There is no word on when that will arrive or for how much, and HP won't guarantee it will be enough to meet demand, but there are more on the way.

TouchPads may be cheap now, but are they any good? Could your business benefit from an inexpensive tablet portal to the Internet with a very limited app catalogue? For some users, several recent developments may sweeten the deal.

Now you'll be able to work with Microsoft Office documents on the TouchPad, as the Quickoffice HD productivity suite was updated for it Tuesday. At launch, the included version of Quickoffice HD could only open and view Word and Excel files. With this update, you'll be able to create and edit Word and Excel files, and get some advanced text and cell formatting options along with performance enhancements.

In addition, HP confirmed via an to CNET on Tuesday that an over-the-air update for WebOS on the TouchPad is on the way to add even more functionality to the platform. There's no word on when that will arrive or what enhancements it might include.

In the meantime, you can grab , although most are games. They are limited use codes though, and the previous 6-pack of free codes has already been used up. of the top 10 free apps.

Another app that can help the Touchpad function in a business, the Citrix Receiver, is also available for free. With WebOS's multitasking, you can have multiple sessions open simultaneously.