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HP outlines plans for Palm's WebOS

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Posted 21st May 2010 at 3:53pm by Oliver Folkard

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HP has explained how it is going to develop the WebOS platform after it acquired smartphone manufacturer Palm.

Since HP does not have an established foothold in the smartphone market in its own right, it was clear to many observers that its acquisition of Palm would allow it to make some headway without investing in the development of its own operating system, as Palm's WebOS is already known to be a versatile, modern platform.

HP has now announced that it will be integrating the WebOS platform into some of its other product lines, including network printers. This means that smartphones will no longer be the only devices powered by the WebOS platform.

"You've now got a whole series of web-connected printers and as they connect to the web you need an OS. We prefer to have that OS, in our case, be our IP where we can control the customer experience," said HP's Mark Hurd during a conference this week.

Mr Hurd made it clear that HP was not going to be entering the smartphone market as a direct result of its Palm acquisition, but he did say that new smartphones and tablet computers produced by his firm would definitely benefit from Palm's software and experience.

He also said that the app store offered on Palm's WebOS-based smartphones would be harnessed by HP in order to distribute software to a wider family of devices, including the all-important printers.

Palm Pre owners, or those who are looking forward to the launch of the Palm Pixi, will be pleased to hear that HP will be supporting Palm in its smartphone endeavours both now and in the future.

More news on: Business, Palm

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6 Comments

  • James Murphy, 21st May 2010.

    Guarantee if they do make new phones with WebOs they won't be branded as Palm. That's now irrevocably associated with a flop phone.

    Reply

  • @top10, 21st May 2010, via Twitter.

    Palm's WebOS rides again. And it's coming to printers too, according to HP: http://bit.ly/c6IuIQ #palm #technology

  • Jim Jobs, 21st May 2010.

    You can't guarantee anything if you're not an executive making decisions at HP. It's even possible that HP will brand smartphones under Palm and HP or both.

    webOS will always be associated with Palm. And if HP webOS Internet Printers begin to replace old HP printers and dominate the offices and businesses worldwide, Palm "webOS" smartphones will be associated with a brand name operating system that will be considered popular and superior.

    Reply

  • Marvelous, 21st May 2010.

    @James Murphy...Palm's phone was not a flop. However, the launch, marketing strategy and some hardware issues held back sales. WebOS is by far the best mobile operating system on the planet.

    Reply

  • vara411, 22nd May 2010.

    @James That's a pretty myopic statement. Palm pretty much invented the smartphone and has plenty of brand recognition within the smartphone space (what's HP's... the iPaq??).

    Palm failed because they didn't have enough start-up capital to showcase their product over all the noise of other phones, not because they were Palm.

    Reply

  • Howard Kanowitz, 22nd May 2010.

    After nearly a year's experience using it, the Pre has an excellent OS platform but for us Sprint users, needs redefining. It runs slow. The screen needs enlarging and the keyboard is just too small.

    I wouldn't mind being able to insert a card as an extra directory. I stil miss using a stylus from my old Palm 650, as my fingers are too large for some actions, such as small check boxes. As to the keyboard, one can backspace to the left, but not delete to the right. Photos and other files can only be selected one at a time. There is no Shift or Control selection mechanism as on a regular keyboard. I could live with a larger device. It cannot print, a feature I would expect of HP.

    Reply

  • SIDNEY K, 18th June 2010.

    Rumour has it that HP will use this OS for its version of the IPad.

    Reply

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