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Does anyone else think this is a terrible name? For me at least, this brings up an image of the trackpad on my laptop - which is... imperfect at best.

Aside from that, it just seems horribly generic. Touch? Pad? That's all you have to say about your product?

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Yes, but it's just as generic as i-anything, which is similar to e-anything. I'm pretty sure "e-phones" could have been a mid-90's spoof name of a pocket-pc. And "pad" was derided as similar to a feminine pad, a much worse link than a trackpad.

The magic was in product and marketing execution, and now i- (and "pad") signifies something more than generic. If HP/Palm pulls this off correctly they could integrate "touch-" into a whole line of WebOS devices that has brand-recognition with consumers.

If they want to do that, then they should have avoided "pad." They can't come out with a "touchPhone" or a "touchPod" without looking like they're trying to imitate Apple. Not that HP/Palm don't deserve some creedence, but I would never recommend anyone go head to head with Apple on branding alone - and that goes double if your strategy is clearly derivative of theirs.

TouchThis (TM)

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