Industry teardown experts iSuppli have dismantled HP's Touchpad to determine the device's total bill of materials. According to iSuppli, each 32Gb TouchPad costs HP $318 to build, not including costs inherent to the device's assembly, packaging, support, marketing, transit, or licensing or royalty costs. The seldom-seen entry-level 16Gb TouchPad has a material charge of $296, proving correct the suspicions of many that HP is pushing the higher-margin 32Gb version at every opportunity, such as the recent "Make things right" rebate campaign that is valid only for purchases of the 32Gb TouchPad.

Of particular note within the detailed report is that the TouchPad's LG-sourced IPS LCD screen is almost the exact same model used in the first and second-generation iPads. Also, the Qualcomm APQ8060 "Snapdragon" dual-core processor found in the TouchPad can be clocked up to 1.5Ghz, which is how HP has been able to offer clockspeed-bumped TouchPad 64Gb and 4G versions so quickly. For comparison purposes, a March report revealed that the midrange 32Gb iPad 2 GSM version carries a BOM total of $326.60, almost identical to the first-generation GSM 32Gb iPad. The closest Android competitor examined by iSuppli, the 32Gb 3G Motorola Xoom, rings in at $359.92, due to its greater assortment of ports, connectors, sensors, and larger LCD.

HP today announced that former Palm Inc. CEO Jon Rubinstein is now out as head of the former Palm group, and has reassigned Stephen DeWitt as senior vice president and general manager of its webOS global business unit. Ruby will take on an unspecific product innovation role within the Personal Systems Group (PSG) at HP.

"With the successful debut of our first wave of webOS-based products, we are drawing on our deep executive bench to position the right leaders in the right roles to accelerate the long-term growth of webOS," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, and member of the Executive Board, HP. "Stephen DeWitt has a proven ability to build and scale organizations into global, multibillion dollar operations, and I am confident that he will take webOS to the next level. At the same time, we continue to leverage the core strengths of Silicon Valley icon Jon Rubinstein to apply his considerable talents across the PSG portfolio."

While we are still awaiting delivery our TouchPad review unit, several other sites have already posted their initial reviews of the HP TouchPad. Here are some of the highlights from various reviewers around the web.

Engadget's review of the TouchPad is rather harsh, with review Tim Stevens feeling that HP's latest effort isn't nearly on the level of its iOS or Android competitors.

Longtime Wall Street Journal personal technology columnist Walt Mossberg, via AllThingsD, plainly states that the TouchPad falls short of the iPad despite its strengths in UI, multitasking, and wireless printing. Again, many promises of "in the coming months" and "soon" are made for future updates to address many of Mr. Mossberg's concerns.

This past February, HP backpedalled on numerous earlier promises that WebOS 2.x would be made available for the legacy Palm-branded devices due to a variety of problems stemming from carrier certifications to performance-related hardware issues. Since then, HP has firmly stated that owners of all legacy Palm-branded WebOS devices (save the newer Pre 2) would be out of luck as far as future OS updates and enhancements.

As evident in our recent story about Rovio's lack of Angry Birds updates for WebOS, the older 1.4.x version of the OS found on these devices will become more and more of a hindrance moving forward as far as compatibility and support for newer applications.

Thankfully, a new post on the official HP Palm blog makes good on Jon Rubinstein's February promise for "something special". All legacy WebOS device owners can now be one step closer to enjoying the latest WebOS 3.0 on brand-new hardware in the form of a $50 loyalty rebate on a new 32GB TouchPad.

Taiwanese news outlet CENS is reporting that OEM giant Inventec Corp. has received a large-quantity order from HP for an upcoming tablet. Presumably, this is the 7" version of the TouchPad, nicknamed the "Opal". Supposedly, this new 7" TouchPad will join its larger 9.7" sibling (arriving this Friday) on store shelves as soon as August or September. Those of you who have been following the TouchPad saga since the beginning will recall that the first word leaked out about this device way back in January.

Additional details from the article center around HP's lofty sales aspirations for their first-generation TouchPads, with CENS reporting that HP's 2011 tablet order from Inventec is estimated to be three million units, with monthly production hitting 400,000 to 450,000 units.

With Apple currently focusing solely on the existing 9.7" iPad form-factor and Google electing at the present to only outfit tablets with screen sizes 8.9" or larger with its latest Honeycomb OS, the 7" tablet market has considerably fewer cutting-edge devices and competition. 7" tablets are less well-representation in most retail outlets versus the larger tablets in the 10" screen size range, so HP could potentially stand to capture a larger piece of the market share if they can speedily bring a smaller and more affordable Touchpad to market.

Businessweek has just published an informative new article entitled "HP's Plan to Make TouchPad a Hit". In the article, written by Cliff Edwards and Aaron Ricadela, Businesweek talks with HP personal systems head Todd Bradley.

A six-year veteran of HP, Mr. Bradley starts off his talk by unequivocally stating that the Wintel era is drawing to a close and a new mobile and cloud-centric model focusing on ARM-based devices is now upon us. The article then goes on to give an overview of the differences between HP's home-grown WebOS efforts and the efforts of Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows licensees. Jon Rubinstein, former Palm CEO, is also quoted in the piece.

Wal-Mart has traditionally not been the proving grounds for any of the latest Palm-related news found on PIC but the arrival of the HP TouchPad looks to solidify the retail giant's position as a major player in the tablet game.

A Wal-Mart store in Pittsburg, Kansas has already placed a functioning TouchPad out on display with wi-fi connectivity. A nearly six-minute long video taken in this store is now on YouTube (embed after the break) where a curious shopper was able to demo the device with several apps and games. A brief demonstration of the looping demo mode on the device is also in the video, as is the free Box.net cloud storage offer included with the device.

Verizon Palm Pre 2 owners are currently letting out a collective sigh of relief as the WebOS 2.1 update for that device is starting to roll out as an OTA update. HP's new Veer 4G has been exclusive pre-installed home of WebOS 2.1 though the 2.1 has been available for unlocked and overseas GSM Pre 2's since March.

The main attractions of this latest OS update are definitely native Voice Dialing functionality and Exhibition mode, though HP has also added support for Bluetooth keyboards HID profiles and the usual performance, battery usage, and reliability tweaks.

With Verizon recently slashing Pre 2 prices to as low as $50 on a 2yr contract, the arrival of WebOS 2.1 is certain to keep this transitional device in the limelight a bit longer until the Pre3's arrival.

Angry Birds continues to be an unstoppable force in the mobile gaming world, with major updates to both Angry Birds Seasons and Rio in the month of June for iOS and Android devices. Unfortunately, WebOS users have been left out in the cold for the last two major updates for the title. WebOSRoundup recently contacted Angry Birds developer Rovio regarding the absent updates and Rovio has responded that the "Palm devices" have "severe firmware issues which prevent latest versions of Angry Birds running properly. Unfortunately Palm has decided not to support them with firmware updates anymore."

Sami from Rovio then goes on to explain that the Pre and Pre Plus may be compatible with future updates to the title but nothing is guaranteed. Unfortunately, the statement from Rovio also claims that the Pixi line will not see any updates going forward. It is unknown whether the shared 320x400 resolution between the Pixi, Pixi Plus and new Veer 4G will also prevent the newest WebOS device from gaining any traction in the WebOS gaming world.

However, Rovio did confirm through Twitter and email that the new generation of WebOS devices will be able to run the latest versions of their various titles. A June 13th Tweet from Rovio indicated that they have had to do more work than expected to support the new WebOS devices but the updated version of Angry Birds Seasons (with the Carnival levels) has been submitted to HP for App Store approval.

In what is hopefully the first of many fast, furious, and frenzied retail pushes for HP's TouchPad line, the nation's largest membership warehouse retailers are upping the ante for launch pricing.

An insider has leaked word to WebOSroundup that Sam's Club will be undercutting other retailers (as well as corporate sibling Wal-Mart) out of the gate for by $21 across the board for both TouchPad SKUs. The 32Gb TouchPad will ring in at $578 at Sam's whereas the 16Gb version will sell for $478. A trip to my local Sam's last week revealed no other competing tablets other than a handful of leftover first-generation Apple iPads, so the retailer is likely getting set to make a big push for HP's latest.

PIC Associate Editor Kris Keilhack brings us his take on the new HP Veer 4G…

My initial impression out of the box is that the Veer is impossibly tiny! I was expecting something along the lines of a reduced-size Pre but I was not expecting anything this Lilliputian! The Veer can hide completely under a credit card! It slips safely into a shirt pocket without a moment's hesitation. Without a doubt, this little gizmo is the best execution yet of Palm's "river pebble" theme as first seen at CES 2009 with the original Pre.

Read on for the full HP Veer 4G review.