The WSJ.com reports that Hewlett Packard will release a new smartphone in the next two months, aiming to grow its device business beyond corporate users. The device will debut in Europe, and will be sold by a mobile carrier in retail stores.

The new device will have a touchscreen and keypad and will use Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, say people briefed on the plan. It will be able to send and receive emails, and access the Internet.

The phone is the latest version of H-P’s iPaq devices. H-P, which has been selling iPaq-branded devices since it acquired personal-computer maker Compaq Computer Corp. in 2002, primarily focused earlier iPaqs on businesses and typically didn’t sell them through retail stores.

Hopefully, as WMPowerUser hopes, “the device will be the HP Oak, which looks pretty tasty, and hopefully the device is more polished and less buggy than the trouble-some HP 910c.”

Fellow PC manufacturers Dell and Acer have been hinting their own plans to enter the smartphone industry. Acer even has been confirmed to start its brand new smartphone debut in Q1 2009.