HP Completes Palm Acquisition; Netbook Running webOS Soon?
Hewlett-Packard has completed the Palm acquisition. And if you read between the lines it sounds like HP will leverage Palm’s technology for more than smart phones and tablet computers. Indeed, HP seems poised to deploy webOS on netbooks. Here are the details.
The official release says webOS is just one of Palm’s gems from a “Rich portfolio of intellectual property.” But here’s the interesting part:
Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks. “With HP’s full backing and global strengths, I’m confident that webOS will be able to reach its full potential,” said [Jon] Rubinstein [Former CEO of Palm]
Full potential? Future slates and netbooks? It looks like HP is getting ready to push far beyond its Microsoft Windows heritage. Good things coming? We’ll have to see, but anytime competition amps up and new technology takes off, it’s an exciting time to be a consumer.
A webOS netbook could very well be an iPad competitor, so long as the apps get ramped up. Also worth noting, non-Apple consumers might look to webOS since it’s much more ‘pretty’ than an Android offering and could attract a lot of consumers who might be comfortable with the HP brand.
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