The primary goal of Hewlett-Packard's pending acquisition of smartphone maker Palm is to gain its mobile operating system, which HP plans to built into everything from tablet PCs to printers.

HP CEO Mark Hurd gave the first detailed look at the company's plans for Palm, once the $1.2 billion acquisition is complete, during the conference call with analysts to discuss the company's second-quarter earnings. Hurd said webOS will go well beyond smartphones, and into connected devices such as tablet PCs and Web printers, complete with an app store. The company also plans to grow Palm's smartphone business, but the acquisition is a broader play to gain a mobile OS.

"It isn't precisely a smartphone play, as I've seen some people write," Hurd said. “It is, for us, strategically broader.”

The idea that Apple's tablet would be more Apple TV than iPhone officially can be put to rest, with the announcement this morning that 1 million of the devices have been sold in its first 28 days of availability. Even the iPad's harshest critics would struggle to call that a bomb.

Apple reached its iPad milestone in 28 days, which CEO Steve Jobs pointed out is significantly quicker than the 74 days it took the iPhone to hit that number. "Demand continues to exceed supply and we're working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers," added Jobs, who now seems more than justified in using the word "magical," which got him some merciless ribbing when he introduced the tablet in January.

Consumers just don't understand Hewlett-Packard. At least that's the gist of HP's new ad campaign, which is being used to unveil the company's new tagline: "Let's Do Amazing."

"HP has expanded significantly over the past five years to become the largest technology company in the world and yet most customers do not see the breadth and depth of what we do," said Glenna Patton, VP of brand strategy and experience design for HP, in a statement announcing the new campaign, which will include television spots, online and print ads, and "employee engagement" efforts.