At a conference in Shanghai this week Hewlett-Packard executives have been touting the company's reentry into the tablet market, this time with models running Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system. That's according to the , which quotes HP big shots who say the move capitalizes on the high numbers of consumers investing in tablets and the fact that Windows 8 will let them share and store content online between different devices.

This isn't HP's first foray into tablets. If you recall, last summer the company introduced the short-lived but by the end of August was already clearing out inventory by of its webOS slate. By the end of the year HP announced it would release webOS to the open-source community, following its decision to stop making phones and tablets using the software.

But with Windows 8 on board, HP's new tablet will likely fare far better than the TouchPad did.

"The concept of a worthy Windows tablet has been a sort of Holy Grail since the launch of the Apple iPad. Windows 8, with its Metro interface, and compatibility with ARM architecture devices has established an expectation that Windows 8 tablets will fill the void Android tablets have been unable to, and provide some worthwhile competition for Apple -- especially in the business market," .

He's right; it appears tablets are in growing demand by business users.