We began 2011 full of excitement: not only was the iPad 2 imminent, but we were giddy with excitement at the prospect of the BlackBerry PlayBook, HP’s TouchPad and a range of Android Honeycomb devices. Twelve months on and while the market’s moved on.

Reviews of HP’s ill-fated TouchPad were unanimous: the hardware wasn’t anything special, but the operating system, WebOS, was great. When HP killed off its WebOS tablet, pundits began to speculate: would it die with the tablet? Would it be sold to a rival firm, such as Amazon? Would HP keep it locked away forever?

We’re wary of the phrase “iPad Killer” around these parts, because many of the tablets so described haven’t dented the iPad at all: they’ve been aimed at different markets, at different prices, with different kids of content. However, if rumours are correct and Amazon’s sniffing around HP’s WebOS, we might have to dig the term up after all.

If you’ve been dying to get your hands on an HP TouchPad, your wait is nearly over: pre-orders start on the 19th of June and the tablet goes on sale in July.

Could this be the iPad killer? HP’s Touchpad is beautifully engineered and has a gorgeous new operating system. If the price is right it could be a serious contender.