HP worked with several content providers to bring content to the device. Dreamworks movies like "Kung Fu Panda" and "Shrek" will be available for the TouchPad at launch, as will Web versions of magazines like Sports Illustrated. Users will be able to access their Kindle libraries from the TouchPad, which has a reading application that turns pages with the flick of a finger.

HP will need to attract developers to the device to build applications. Its aim is to amass "the biggest audience of connected users in the world," according to Jon Rubinstein, the former Palm CEO and now HP executive who joined Bradley on stage. That means developers will have a big target to write for, he said.

"Synergy is our central idea," Rubinstein said, "because when we bring different things together - whether it's different applications, different software, different devices, even different companies -- and get them to work in synch, we achieve a powerful result that's much greater than the sum of its parts."

Since buying Palm, Bradley said, HP has deployed hundreds of additional engineers -- while keeping intact Rubinstein's leadership.

At Wednesday's event, Rubinstein called the product of that work, webOS 2.1, "the most important one we've done so far. It takes the original features that set webOS apart, like true multitasking, synergy ... and takes them further." The software has 50 new features and will be available on the Pre2 from Verizon on Thursday, he added.