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.
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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.
FWIW: Leo's actual comments are a bit more interesting than this Engadget story, full transcript and video below.
Ethan HP Corporate Communications
http://h30507.www3.hp.com/t5/Data-Central/HP-CEO-L%C3%A9o-Ap...
"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.