Palm unveils first tablet computer, the TouchPad

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Smart phone pioneer Palm is releasing its first tablet computer, the TouchPad.

Palm unveiled the black, skinny device Wednesday at a media event in San Francisco. It will run the same webOS operating software as Palm's Pre and Pixi smart phones.

The TouchPad includes a 1.3-megapixel camera on its face for video chats and a 9.7-inch touch screen. It comes with 16 or 32 gigabytes of storage and a speedy dual-core processor.

It weighs nearly the same as Apple Inc.'s iPad and is about as thick.

Like the Pre, the TouchPad includes multitasking capabilities and the ability to view open apps as "cards" that you can slide across the screen, tap to enlarge or flick to dismiss.

Palm, a unit of Hewlett-Packard Co., didn't immediately share price and availability details.