The UK government plans to use HP tablets to go paperless in the courts in an effort to save an estimated £50 million — but it's tying these plans to the discontinued TouchPad and webOS. The Guardian reports that TouchPads tablets will first be issued to prosecutors, who will use them in a mock trial to access all documentation and evidence relevant to the case, with a full rollout to judges, jurors, and barristers planned for April. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which prosecutes criminal cases in England and Wales, identified this as a necessary cost savings measure due to a planned 25 percent budget cut over the next four years, and noted that the cost of implementing this plan was "nominal" compared to the anticipated cost savings. With the future of webOS in doubt, one wonders what the CPS plans to do down the line when it needs new hardware or software — if the costs are indeed minimal, looking into a solution more likely to be around next year is probably wise.
Updated: UK courtrooms using HP tablets to go paperless
The UK government is planning to roll out HP TouchPads to prosecutors, judges, jurors, and barristers in an effort to go paperless and save an estimated £50 million.
The UK government is planning to roll out HP TouchPads to prosecutors, judges, jurors, and barristers in an effort to go paperless and save an estimated £50 million.
Update: This story originally claimed that the Crown Prosecution Service would be using HP TouchPads. We’ve since learned that while HP is the hardware vendor, they will not be using TouchPads. Given HP’s current product lineup, they’ll likely be Windows 7 tablets. Thanks to our commenters for letting us know of this error.
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