dimpy.handa
Dimpy Handa
WebOS brings hope anew to HP's smartphone efforts. It had previously only dabbled in the space with a handful of Windows Mobile devices aimed mostly at business customers. While HP will likely stay in the phone business, its unwillingness to invest in that market at the level of the likes of Apple, Google and Microsoft may have been what former HP CEO Mark Hurd meant when he said last year that HP "didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business." Per se.
However, in contrast to MeeGo, the once next-generation OS for Nokia that has now been relegated to R&D, HP has pledged to bring webOS to a wide swath of HP products -- perhaps too wide. While it's easy to see how TouchPad and smartphone sales would symbiotically attract developers, it's less clear how much apps for those products would have in common with, say, those on a printer front panel or on a layer living on top of Windows on a PC -- two possibilities that HP has raised for device markets where it is particularly strong.
However, in contrast to MeeGo, the once next-generation OS for Nokia that has now been relegated to R&D, HP has pledged to bring webOS to a wide swath of HP products -- perhaps too wide. While it's easy to see how TouchPad and smartphone sales would symbiotically attract developers, it's less clear how much apps for those products would have in common with, say, those on a printer front panel or on a layer living on top of Windows on a PC -- two possibilities that HP has raised for device markets where it is particularly strong.