Laptop makers hope to grab some marketshare with netbook/tablet hybrids

Global notebook brand vendors including Hewlett-Packard (HP), Acer, Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International (MSI), facing strong competition from Apple's iPad, are changing strategies to allow their netbook models to feature capability of a tablet PC and hope the new strategy will help them land orders from the enterprise market, according to sources from upstream component makers.

HP, which originally let its handheld device department handling related R&D for its TouchPad tablet PC, is already considering to let its notebook department to deal with the development of the next-generation TouchPad and the team is already in discussion of the device's specifications and market position, the sources noted.