HP’s TouchPad on sale in US on July 1

Hewlett-Packard announced on Thursday that its rival to Apple’s hot-selling iPad, the HP TouchPad, will go on sale in the United States on July 1. The touchscreen tablet computer, which is powered by the webOS software platform bought from Palm, will be available in Britain, France, Ireland and Germany a few days later and in Canada in mid-July, HP said in a statement.