7-Inch HP Tablet Arriving in August; $50 Rebate

An unnamed subcontractor claims that Inventec Corp, a major contract manufacturer in Taiwan, has received "big-ticket orders" from HP for its upcoming webOS tablet. In addition to supplying HP with the 9.7-inch TouchPad slated for July 17, the company will also reportedly manufacturer a 7-inch version to be launched sometime during August.

The Taiwan Economic News reports that HP is calling for 400,000 to 450,000 TouchPad tablets per month; an industry insider actually predicts that HP will order three million tablets from Inventec this year alone. Inventec president S.C. Lee said the company will even begin shipping tablets in June, which means they're either rolling out on Wednesday or Thursday to HP.

In related news, HP said in a blog on Tuesday that it plans to offer a $50 mail-in rebate on the purchase of a new 32 GB 9.7-inch TouchPad. Sadly, there's a bit of a catch: customers must show proof of owning a Palm Pre, Pre Plus, Pixi, or Pixi Plus (initially in the US or Canada). The mail-in rebate is good wherever customers buy their TouchPad, including preorders and reservations.

"To help showcase how the TouchPad 'works like nothing else,' HP is giving you a chance to win free TouchPads or one of several 'prizes like nothing else' (everything from the chance to experience zero gravity or to ride with racing legend Mario Andretti)," said HP's Jon Zilber. "Check out the virtual TouchPad LaunchLine on Facebook here."

For the uninitiated, HP's first webOS-based tablet will arrive featuring a 9.7-inch touch screen with a 1024 x 768 native resolution, a dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1 GB of RAM, Wireless 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, a 1.3 MP front-facing camera and storage capacities of either 16 GB or 32 GB, depending on your wallet. The device will also weigh 1.6 pounds and measure just 13.6-mm thick.