HP doing a touch-screen smartphone

The Wall Street Journal claims HP is planning to produce a Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 device aimed at the European consumer market. The device will apparently feature a keypad rather than the more traditional QWERTY keyboard as seen on the HP iPaq 910c.

H-P spokesman Mike Hockey said, “the iPaq brand is extremely strong around the world, especially in the European market.”

Surprisingly, according to IDC, HP still has 3.3% of the global Smartphone marketshare, which is pretty respectable considering their low profile. Hopefully the device in question will be the HP Oak, which looks pretty tasty, and hopefully the device is more polished and less buggy than the trouble-some HP 910c.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal.