So HP says Apple is not TouchPad’s target. So says Richard Kerris, HP’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations, to The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple:

HP acknowledged Apple’s dominance in the tablet market, but said Apple wasn’t its target with the TouchPad.

“We think there’s a better opportunity for us to go after the enterprise space and those consumers that use PCs,” said Kerris. “This market is in its infancy and there is plenty of room for both of us to grow.”

John Gruber over at Daring Fireball agrees:

Smart. Reminds me of that Steve Jobs mantra from the late ’90s: “We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose. We have to embrace the notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job.”

Bullshit.

HP is a company who’s senior Vice President and General Manager of the Palm Global Business Unit (formerly the CEO of Palm, replacing dipshit Ed Colligan) helped develop the iPod at Apple as a senior vice president. Apple’s influence at HP, through Rubenstein, can be seen all over HP’s product design, advertising and marketing. Rubenstein knows the important parts of Apple’s business to copy and he has.

HP even based the price points on TouchPad models with the iPad. I can’t find the link, but I believe it was Gruber who also pointed out even the name, TouchPad, contains the names of two of Apple’s most popular products.

As Sherlock Holmes said, “No, Watson, this was not done by accident, but by design.”

Aside from the part about not going after Apple, the other point of bullshit in Kerris’ statement was about the “better opportunity for us to go after the enterprise space and those consumers that use PCs”. If the iPad has proven anything, it’s people in the corporate space love the iPad.

HP is clearlying being smart about webOS. They’re focusing on what matters to people – the experience, the software, the Human Experience, but make no mistake, not only are they watching Apple’s every move, but Apple’s and HP’s target markets for tablets very much align.