Update: HP has officially denied the rumor

A claimed render of HP’s promised smartphone sent anonymously to phoneArena apparently shows it running stock Android.

The render is pretty crude, and the hardware appears rather generic, so there’s no guarantee it’s genuine – but the company did opt for near-stock Android for its Slate tablet. If the leak is real, we’d applaud a decision to go with a pure Android experience but add that HP will need to pull something out of the hat with either specs or apps to meet its promise of “a differentiated experience.”

We suggested earlier that HP’s credentials as the world’s largest PC manufacturer might make a business-orientated phone a smart move now that the market share of the former business smartphone leader, Blackberry, has fallen to less than 5 percent. Something special in the hardware – perhaps a fingerprint sensor for security (assuming Apple doesn’t do it first) – would one possibility.

Enterprise-orientated apps would perhaps be a more likely one, especially given the company’s partnership with Google to offer Google Apps to small businesses. A similar approach with a smartphone might enable the company to meet that new-and-different promise despite a rather ordinary-looking box running stock Android.

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