An HP exec has confirmed that the company is developing a WebOS tablet which should be available by October. However a company spokesman has ruled out putting WebOS on a netbook, at least for now.

A couple of weeks ago HP CEO Mark Hurd mentioned that all sorts of devices, including web-connected printers could be equipped with WebOS in the future. However it now seems that HP does not want to see WebOS on netbooks or smartbooks.

There could be two reasons for this. The first is that HP does not want to miff Microsoft more than it has done already by dumping Windows 7 Mobile. Guaranteeing Microsoft will still be under the bonnet of all HP netbooks will go a long way to towards reassuring Redmond.

However the WebOS might not be considered suitable for smartbooks as people want them to do things that WebOS can't really manage. They might be forgiving about a tablet but they want their netbook to manage Office, and Photoshop.