webOS 2 Plans Plus Future Palm Form Factors
Thursday was one of the most news-worthy days thus far in the post-acquisition HP/Palm world. Taking the stage at the Fortune Magazine Brainstorm tech conference in Aspen, Colorado, Todd Bradley of HP and Jon Rubinstein of Palm discussed all things WebOS. Most significantly, Rubinstein made the first a public reference to the next generation of WebOS, saying that WebOS 2.0 is coming "later this year", with "aggressive" new hardware development currently in place. In fact, HP plans to dabble in nearly every current mobile formfactor with WebOS, as stated by Rubinstein:
We're working a wide variety, as Todd said, smartphones definitely, slates, netbooks, working with the guys in the printer group. webOS [...] will have a unified user interface across all of these, will have a unified developer environment, and it's all based on the foundation that we build in webOS from day one. When we developed webOS, we thought about making this scalable across a variety of mobile devices; that's what we'll be delivering going forward.
However, HP's original Windows 7-powered Slate tablet has not disappeared into oblivion and will live on as an Enterprise-oriented device, per Todd Bradley:
Our focus is working with still our largest software partner Microsoft to create a tablet, a slate for the enterprise business. [...] We have worked very closely with some of our commercial partners to understand what that market's like. [It will be launched] this fall. We are working to find the right set of customers, it will be customer specific than more broadly deployed.
As I speculated last week, HP is apparently pushing for WebOS on as many of their non-Wintel consumer-oriented products as possible, which can only be a good thing for the Palm faithful. With repeated remarks to "this year", it's looking like the dearth of new product that plagued Palm in the first half of the year may be alleviated as the holiday season approaches. Another sign of optimism that the classic Palm branding may continue to live on as a sub-brand for HP, according to HP.
HP CEO Mark Hurd's interview with the German-language Frankfurter Allgemeine (via FAZ.net). Palm may very well live on in HP's mobile product lineup, much like how Compaq serves as HP's value-oriented PC line or how Acer differentiates between otherwise similar Acer, Gateway, and Packard Bell products in varying regions. It is also conceivable that HP could field various non-Palm branded devices running WebOS 2.0.
Finally, EverythingPre is reporting that Todd Bradley and HP are so kindly supplying the crowd in attendance yesterday at Brainstorm that they would all be receiving a free AT&T Pre Plus with 90 days of complimentary service. More details as well as photos are available from PreCentral.
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RE: Sounds Great.
I like my Aria. But Android's calendar has major usability issues. I miss the functional simplicity of my TX sometimes.
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PalmPilot Pro (1997) -> III (1998) -> Vx (1999) -> m500 (2001) -> m515 (2002) -> Tx (2007) -> HTC Aria (2010)
Quick office
http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com/2010/08/24/quickoffice-will-hit-webos/
Never really heard of them, but there potential for document editing for WebOS 2.0.
RE: Quick office
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Sounds Great.
Maybe JR and others wer positioning Palm for sale all along? Nevertheless, they were running the thing to make money and forge ahead. That's what would make it sale for more. I've never understood the opinion that said for the last year "Palm has no new HW, therefore nothing is coming, therefore it's the last we'll see, and it's a dead platform." Yes, without a buyout they would not have made it. But they have been doing the obvious for 12+ months now and should deliver something spectacular in 15, considering that they are building on an already awesome platform. If they make as much relative progress as they did in 12 last time, then watch out.
I still love my Pre+. Now 800mhz and lightening fast, OS / App patches by the dozen, pay apps, free apps, and homebrew apps galore. Would love a 4" screen, PIM upgrade, Flash in browser, and some continued OS refinement and capability. Not a perfect phone or platform, but I love it more than I expected. Besides the glaring marketing failures, I am impressed with what JR & Co inherited and built in such a short time. Palm HAD to do it error free and di not, therefore they are bought.
Still, they did some great things and I'm very excited about v2.0 and some beasty hardware.
Pat Horne