

What HP Really Bought From Palm: A Mobile Future Untethered From Microsoft - hornokplease
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/09/what-1-2-billion-bought-hp-a-mobile-future-untethered-from-microsoft/

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benwerd
I think this is incredibly exciting.

Apple has been able to create a seamless experience because it owns its entire
PC chain, from designing the computer hardware through building the operating
system through, in the iOS devices at least, approving individual software
applications.

HP is the largest PC manufacturer in the world, and has significant market
share in related markets like printers, cameras, and so on. I love that
they're actually thinking about using this power to muscle in on what's
hitherto been Apple's turf. They're creating a similarly seamless experience,
but they're doing it at a better price, with far better distribution than
Apple currently has, and with features that Apple hasn't managed to launch
yet.

Seamless wire-free syncing, tethering, sharing and charging between elegant
devices running an extremely user-friendly multitasking operating system?
Awesome. Doing this with a development platform that innovative web developers
can get up to speed with quickly? Even better.

~~~
wvenable
> but they're doing it at a better price, with far better distribution than
> Apple currently has, and with features that Apple hasn't managed to launch
> yet.

The price has _not_ been announced and the Apple iPad 2 will release before
this device! I think your enthusiasm is a bit premature.

My question is how many mobile operating systems can the market really
support? Apple has a huge lead in both devices and apps but Android is
catching up fast. The Touchpad might be a great device, but what good will it
be when all the cool apps are on other platforms?

[Edit: Added not]

~~~
sfphotoarts
I think you meant "...has not been..." and I agree with your points. However,
one thing I have noticed among my friends and myself with apps is that there
really only needs to be a few dozen apps and 80% of the planet are (is?)
happy. Look at how static the top apps for ipad and iphone are month after
month.

Provided porting an app to a new platform isn't too arduous then it could work
out. Games especially, they are typically very easily ported since most run
atop game engines that are very easily recompiled.

That said, I think Apple will eclipse HP with iPad2 and they have the 'cool'
brand recognition. Think HP and you think printers still. Blackberry on the
other hand...

Let's wait for the battery spec to really see how this thing will work out.
Apple cut many many corners to give the ipad fabulous battery life and the
video I have seen of the touchpad makes it look really slow, very unsnappy
performance. Possibly they are running developer builds and it will be faster
when it ships.

~~~
wvenable
There's the famous quote about software features: most people only use 10% but
they all use a different 10%. Windows XP SP2 was held up because _Deer Hunter_
wouldn't run but I doubt most people on hacker news have ever even played it.

Sure, every platform might end up with a copy of Angry Birds but the more
fringe the platform the smaller the selection. It's almost guaranteed that not
a single innovative app or game will come to WebOS first. And who knows how
long it'll take the platform to even get Angry Birds. That's a significant
disadvantage to owning a Touchpad.

I'm on the fence as to whether or not HP should have used the Palm brand for
all this technology. It seems a logical choice to use Palm but the HP brand
implies size, money, and staying power that Palm hasn't had recently.

~~~
hornokplease
For what it's worth, Angry Birds was ported to webOS last summer:

[http://pdnblog.palm.com/2010/08/interviewing-the-master-
eagl...](http://pdnblog.palm.com/2010/08/interviewing-the-master-eagle-of-
angry-birds-as-he-publishes-the-game-to-webos/)

------
raganwald
Microsoft's Proposition: Bundle our OS, and you can join the rest of the
hardware pack in a race to the thinnest margins and the most undifferentiated
offerings, while we get rich taxing every unit you sell.

Google's Proposition: Bundle our OS, and you can join the rest of the hardware
pack in a race to the thinnest margins and the most undifferentiated
offerings, while we get rich advertising to (y)our user base.

HP has figured out that even though Android is "free," bundling Android with
their hardware is the same business model as bundling Windows.

~~~
Kylekramer
I'm pretty sure every hardware maker realize that, but they also realize that
is what won last time. Everyone wants to roll their own, but that is a risky
venture (Palm couldn't hack it). Hitching your wagon to Windows/Android is
better than going on your own and failing miserably.

~~~
potatolicious
It's that or be sidelined as a commodity hardware manufacturer, though.
Despite Samsung, HTC, Moto et al's best efforts (Sense UI and other things
they've been tacking onto their Android devices), it's pretty clear that the
UX is driven by Google. This handicaps (if not virtually eliminates) their
ability to differentiate and brand their products.

After all, the only real difference between a Samsung and HTC is hardware -
few people care about the custom bits on top.

Also, I don't think you give Palm enough credit. webOS is a solid product that
had a solid enough launch. If Palm hadn't run out of cash, and their marketing
wasn't so ass-backwards, they might've stood a chance. IMHO with a bottomless
moneypit like HP backing them, they can put up a real fight.

~~~
bergie
The level of differentiation seems to be very small on Android indeed. It
looks like almost every week there is the "new hot Android superphone" that
reigns supreme, only to be surpassed a week later when the next phone comes
out from another Asian manufacturer packing in yet another processor core.

------
viae
Could enterprise software development become "fun" if WebOS fulfills it's
potential? Funny to think of BeOS and BeIA becoming HP's NextStep. There's a
lot riding on this at HP. I'm not familiar with their executive leadership,
other than that Leo Apotheker comes from an enterprise computing background,
but a good evaluation of where that leadership comes from will be important at
divining what's ahead. Microsoft should be terrified. If anyone can rip
enterprise customer's out of Microsoft's grip it's going to be HP.

[http://www8.hp.com/us/en/company-information/executive-
team/...](http://www8.hp.com/us/en/company-information/executive-
team/team.html)

HP certainly seems to be trying really hard to support developers. For
example, get a $200 developer discount on an unlocked Pre 2. I'm sure they'll
have something similar for the Palm Pre 3.

[http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_content&v...](http://developer.palm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2129)

Now's a good time to speculate long-term on HP stock. If they do well with
WebOS and spin it off to their other computing platforms they could become the
"Apple" of enterprise computing. If they /really/ do well maybe people will
want to take their work equipment home with them instead of wanting to take
their Macs/iphones into work...

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hansef
Wow the writing in this piece is atrocious.

"Let's be very clear, the competition is Apple (AAPL), but those hardware
companies who would take on the gang from Cupertino, HP among them, have one
huge disadvantage, they don't really do software."

"What HP did when it dropped $1.2 billion on Palm, was signal that software is
finally front and center for the largest PC company on the planet."

Commas are great, they help you get away, for example, with run-on sentences,
the only thing is, you can't just put them anywhere.

~~~
captainkirk
I, beg, to differ. They, should, be used, judisciously.

------
bergie
Well, except that according to a few news outlets, WebOS will be coming to
desktops and notebooks as a layer _on top of_ Windows. But of course that can
be a transitional stage.

~~~
timtadh
What? Source? I haven't heard of this before. That makes zero sense. Do you
have any actual information about this?

~~~
wvenable
This is the first I've heard of this, but I think it actually makes a lot of
sense. This allows HP to market WebOS as a true phone/table/desktop OS much
like Apple now does with iOS and Mac OS (especially now with the Mac app
store). They already have their TouchSmart shell with "TouchSmart Apps" and
games, so this is a very smart move.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
I just googled HP Touchsmart to see what it is. I'm amazed to discover that HP
already has a range of iMac style all-in-one computers with touchscreens. And
they ship with software that allows you to buy touch-enabled games and comic
reading apps etc.

Seems like great synergy with WebOS, particularly as the review I found rated
the hardware highly but thought the current software sucked. In fact they
specifically noted the then recent purchase of Palm and speculated that webOS
on a touch enabled PC would be a good move.

edit: they've got one of those convertible laptop/tablet things with the
swivel hinge in the range too.

------
philthy
HP needs to completely open up the application and extension aspect of webOS.
As a pre HP Verizon Palm Pre phone user, I find the app store to be extremely
lacking. You don't have anywhere near the number or quality of apps available
on other platforms to choose from. There needs to be a substantial developer
base for webOS to really take off. I have used the Palm SDK, and I think it
could use some work as well especially in the area of device hardware support.

The buyout of Palm shocked the system a little and the wheels are looking like
they are starting to roll. Hopefully HP decides to leave their devices as
'open' as the Linux based webOS is.

~~~
TimJYoung
Bingo. The most open device is going to win this race, and it won't be any
vendor that locks developers into an "app store" or any specific
language/runtime.

Most people forget that the reason the PC took off like it did was because a
developer could do whatever they wanted with the machine. It was a blank slate
that could run multiple operating systems be used with many different
languages. Many vendors today are purposefully taking a very open architecture
and locking it down tight, which is a very anti-developer stance to take, and
contrary to (what history shows as) the path to success.

~~~
earl
> The most open device is going to win this race [...]

The above is very far from clear at this point. In case you didn't notice it,
the App Store just hit 10 _billion_ downloads [1]. I'd say that's a pretty
relevant bit of history. Also note the amazing 60 apps per idevice [2]. And
don't conflate openness with developer profitability -- in one case, Microsoft
had both, but it's not clear that the latter leads to the former. Right now,
I'd guess there's easily one or two magnitudes more developers supporting
themselves with iOS apps than with android apps.

The fact that my gf and mom's iphone and ipad can't run random executables is,
IMO, a feature not a bug. I got so tired of telling them, "No, do _NOT_ click
yes on any dialog box. Do not install anything. Do not agree to anything. etc"
And yet somehow, spyware / crap always ended up on their damn computers.
Apple's vision of utility computing, where the computer is a tablet or a phone
that just bloody works is one of the best things that can happen to computing
intended for widespread adoption. Further, curation of apps similarly is
awesome for them. I'm not as stoked about it for myself, but I'm very clearly
a distinct minority.

[1] [http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/22/apples-app-store-
hits-10-...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/22/apples-app-store-
hits-10-billion-downloads/)

[2] [http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/01/more-
than-60-apps...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/mobile/2011/01/more-than-60-apps-
downloaded-per-ios-device.php)

~~~
philthy
I guess you like to be told what you can do and what you can like on your
device. Nothing wrong with that...

~~~
brownleej
He said "I'm not as stoked about it for myself", so I would wager that he does
not like to be told what he can do and what he can like.

------
bergie
Interesting note is that WebOS internals are not that different from MeeGo:
<http://opensource.palm.com/2.0.0/index.html>

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zatara
So HP is trying to redeem itself from the huge blunder with Woz some 30 years
ago!

