Fujitsu have unveiled their new netbook; a device running Nokia and Intel’s MeeGo operating system.

Nokia had expressed concerns over the future of MeeGo – and of Nokia itself – after the Finnish company experienced poor sales over the past two years.

But Fujitsu have ploughed on, launching the LifeBook device in a move that Fujitsu’s vice president Lim Teck Sin called a “big step forward”:

“For multimedia natives who long for enhanced interactivity and immediate multimedia access”, Lim Teck Sin said “the Lifebook will definitely surpass their expectations”.

The unveiling of the LifeBook comes after a joint push from Fujitsu and Intel to get the MeeGo PC platform up and running and help out their ailing business partner, Nokia.

Nokia executives and shareholders will be hoping a successful rollout for MeeGo will transform the operating system from a dead weight around their collective necks, to a rocket, propelling their sales and share prices back towards the top.

The MH330 – whose major selling point seems to be that it is light and thin – will be powered by the standard MeeGo processor; the 1.66GHz Intel Atom N540. The device features Bluetooth 2.1, 5-in-1 card clot, 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN and a web camera. It is expected to hit British shelves this quarter.

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Hewlett-Packard has unveiled the 9.7 inch TouchPad, the first full-size tablet device to run on its WebOS operating system.

The Qualcomm powered slate will not be made available until later this year, probably during the summer, but HP is already trying to get tech-lovers on side with the device it claims “works the way you do”.

With a multi-touch display, a virtual keyboard, a front-facing camera, Adobe Flash Player options and the ability to receive text messages and phone calls, the TouchPad is being billed as a tablet that is as productive as it is fun to use.

“Today we’re embarking on a new era of webOS with the goal of linking a wide family of HP products through the best mobile experience available,” said Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager of the Palm Global Business Unit at HP.

“The flexibility of the webOS platform makes it ideal for creating a range of innovative devices that work together to keep you better connected to your world.”

As the largest supplier of PCs in the world, HP clearly has plenty of fans of its technology but it remains to be seen whether it can win over a share of the many millions of people expected to buy a new tablet PC at some point this year.

The company’s strategy in the tablet sector has been based partly on developing and utilising the technology, branding and know-how it acquired along with the Palm business in the spring of last year.

Here’s a promo video for the soon-to-be-launched HP TouchPad…

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