As the World's largest computer manufacturer, it is strange to me that HP would spend $1.2B to buy WebOS and Palm's patents and mobile hardware design talent, only to give out its sole marketable distinguishing characteristic to competitors. If any company is capable of exploiting WebOS's strengths with an array of skillfully designed and profitable hardware, it would seem that HP would be the one to do it.
If I was a potential OEM partner with HP, I would have to question their long-term commitment to the partnership; I would expect them to drop licensing and capture the hardware profits for themselves should the platform be successful and build a healthy software ecosystem.
I think that's the problem, no one company is capable of doing it on their own. I don't think what Apple has done can be replicated now, in fact I don't think even they could replicate it if they were starting over.
A monoculture just can't compete at this point. I love WebOS, but I won't buy the phone. The apps aren't there like they are on Android, and as long as HP alone is selling it the platform won't be big enough to encourage that.
| If any company is capable of exploiting WebOS's strengths with an array of capably designed and profitable hardware, it would seem that HP would be the one to do it.
I don't think HP agrees exactly. It appears that they think that there are many people capable of exploiting WebOS' strengths and perhaps are even counting on it. An excited developer culture around an OS tends to work out well for the hardware manufacturers.
They've got to be versatile if they can have a hope to at least challenge Windows Phone, much less dethrone Android/iOS. I also suggest they sell any device that they themselves make under the Palm brand. Go back to your roots!
It would go hand in hand with my other dream idea of HP deciding not to focus on the saturated smartphone market and instead try to strike back at the iPod Touch, reviving the concept of a separate PDA device. And what would be more natural than a new generation of PalmPilots running WebOS?
For one thing, the PDA market right now is basically the iPod touch. Certainly smartphones and tablets are hotter properties, but the former market is saturated (and I wonder if the recent report from WHO will lead to a consumer hysteria backlash against cell phones), and the tablet market is still nascent. PDAs are more compact, anyways.
If HP wants to go this route it should completely open source webOS. Even then HP will need to give away buckets of hardware to developers and pay top developers to write ports. Android took this same approach to grab the lead from Apple and it has a huge head start on HP.
Honestly, if webOS went open source and came on hardware from multiple vendors I'd buy it over Android. But Google makes most of its money from Android with ad revenue. How would HP make as much money by giving away webOS? It probably can't.
"I happen to believe that webOS is a uniquely outstanding operating system. So there's no reason to believe that the only hardware that can run it is HP's," Leo said. "By the way, they don't have to be 'hardware makers' in the classical IT sense. There are many people who make all kinds of control devices, why wouldn't they want to use webOS for that? Appliance makers can use webOS to create connectivity between their appliances and the Web."
"There are all kinds of other people who want to make whatever device or piece of hardware they make connected to the Internet," he continued. "And therefore, we'd like to make webOS available to these people, as we are going to make webOS available to enterprises, or indeed to SMB's who want to create whatever kind of environment within their own firewall."
"So from that perspective, yes, webOS will be more than just running inside or on top of a particular piece of hardware that HP will make."
That is interesting for sure. And it's really in line with HP's plans all along to use webOS on printers.
Even more reason for HP to go open source though. Why use webOS when you can use Android for free instead? Why try to get ahold of an HP sales rep to discuss licensing terms when the Android repository is seconds away from any desktop. Android is already being used in phones and TVs. Soon it will be in cars and pretty much any other embedded device with a screen for a user interface.
With IOS tied to Apple and Windows Phone to Nokia it might not be such a bad idea for HTC (and Samsung etc.) to make sure to have a second choice besides Android.
For one thing, it's pretty clear that the initial batch of WP7 phones were more or less half-assed efforts - no distinguishing characteristics or designs, nor features either.
And, as the Nokia+MS partnership grows closer, and you start seeing some very tight software-hardware integration (a la Apple), HTC and Samsung aren't likely to stick around and play second-fiddle.
Why would they throw their weight behind the WP7 platform if the "officially blessed" version is always more tightly integrated with a better experience?
Neither Palm or HP have delivered the hardware that really does justice to WebOS. On the tablet side of things, the TouchPad looks like a real prospect, but the handsets could definitely use new blood.
Wonder if HTC would be interested in this platform. They've done well enough out of Windows Mobile and Android, this could be their next big success story.
If I was a potential OEM partner with HP, I would have to question their long-term commitment to the partnership; I would expect them to drop licensing and capture the hardware profits for themselves should the platform be successful and build a healthy software ecosystem.