HP Considering Licensing WebOS, Samsung Reportedly Interested

[-=XX=-Nephilim]

Any tablet OS is better than iOS - so I'll take this as good news since it will give me more options to choose from in few months time

Android, WebOS, Blackberry and of course Windows 8

Bring it on!

 

[Winni]

It seems weird that Samsung are interested. They're making great devices, but splitting their product line between two OSs just doesn't make much sense to me.

Two OSes? Maybe that's all that you guys are seeing from Samsung over there in the US. Here in Germany, Samsung already supports THREE OSes: Their own Bada, Android AND Windows Phone 7. WebOS would be the fourth platform that they support, and as some Samsung developers posted in their blogs, they are also working on a new own platform.

What Samsung here does is a simple 'survival of the fittest' game: They put all platforms in a race and let the market decide which one will win.

Any tablet OS is better than iOS!

I fully agree. I gave Apple three chances: I had an iPod Touch, an iPad an an iPhone 3G. I returned the iPad to Apple and sold the other two on eBay. While I always liked the hardware a lot, the restricted software platform sucked way too much.

For me, the difference between iOS and Android is that iOS very obviously was designed to limit your possibilities to a point that you feel like you only rented your equipment from Apple. Android, on the other hand, let's you OWN your equipment.

I spent a lot of time comparing current devices before I made my next purchase, and I now use a Samsung Galaxy S2 and think that Apple has to do a LOT of homework when they want their forthcoming iPhone 5 to catch up with the S2. Samsung now designs the reference smartphones, not Apple. And with iCoud and iOS 5, Apple is only bringing features to the iPhone customers that Google offered from the very beginning.

Apple had their brief moment in the smartphone and tablet market and they were able to build a large user base. They did great. But their competitors were not lazy either, and not only has Android caught up with iOS, it is now outperforming it in every aspect. (And just for the record, for a couple of months now, Android devices are also outselling iOS gadgets.)

 

[Lennholm]

I think his post was dripping with sarcasm.

Well that's a relief

 

[SandynJosh]

HP is the closest company to competing with Apple in the tablet market. Their tablet success will led their OS to get into more smart phones as well.

HP isn't really in the table business any more then Microsoft. They INTEND to get into the table business just like a whole raft of manufacturers.

Well there goes WebOS.
The whole point was to *not* license it. To CONTROL the experience. HP had an amazing opportunity here to play Apple's game and perhaps get a taste of what it's like to pursue excellence.
For a moment there I thought "yes, HP gets it."

We have no idea how HP intends to execute their licensing program with WebOS. They can do it perfectly right, or screw it all up. It's too early to see which way they go.

 

[SandynJosh]

This (WebOS) will amount to nothing. Win7 Mobile will gain momentum over the next 2 years. It will also be immune when Apple goes after all the copycat Touch Interfaces with licensing fees.

I'm not so sure about WebOS failing to become a strong factor in the smartphone/tablet shake out. I do agree that the market may only be big enough to have three main OS players.

Microsoft saw this coming, and it is precisely why Win7 is so different in design. I'm no Redmond Fan, but Win7 Mobile has quite a bit of potential.

It has potential, but it's being pushed forward by a company not known for agility and quickness... required corporate attributes in the fast evolving smart-phone/tablet markets.

Furthermore, while Microsoft is slow and lacks a good understanding of these new markets, it has a totally different corporate culture from Nokia who is much more familiar with these markets, but is now at Microsoft's mercy when it comes to execution.

It's going to be iOS/Android/Win7 Mobile going forward. Samsung is simply doing more pissing and moaning. Quite honestly I'd like to see Apple move as much production out of S. Korea as possible.

I don't think Samsung is any danger of becoming irrelevant regardless which three OSs dominate the markets. They will simply make phones for whichever ones are popular. They really don't care. However, I really would like to see them sorry they back-stabbed Apple...even though the possibility of that happening is nil.

 

[adztaylor]

What I wrote would have made more sense if you didn't cut parts out of it

WP7 has a unified experience all across the board ... it's far from being fragmented, which was what I was getting on.

WP7 hasn't been around long enough to be fragmented.

On topic Web OS on Samsung hardware will be a very attractive proposition IMO. Always liked Web OS.

 

[fertilized-egg]

What Samsung here does is a simple 'survival of the fittest' game: They put all platforms in a race and let the market decide which one will win.

They don't. Their WP7 effort was very half hearted - at best a re-warmed Galaxy S - and their two latest successful flagships were both Android. Compared to the Galaxy Android phones, Bada and WP7 got relatively little publicity overall - especially WP7 - and nothing indicated Samsung put the same amount of backing to them in the "race." Their premium strategy now is Android and that's it. Bada has been promoted mostly as a low cost featurephone-like alternative with iOS-like touch screen.

For me, the difference between iOS and Android is that iOS very obviously was designed to limit your possibilities to a point that you feel like you only rented your equipment from Apple. Android, on the other hand, let's you OWN your equipment.

That's not unique to Android by any means. Windows Mobile and Symbian both allowed practically just as much freedom as Android to the end users, and Maemo, even more so. The main difference about Android is that Google allowed two iOS-like features - usable touch interface and a central app store - to be used by all hardware manufacturers. And strong promotional campaigns by carriers, which is crucial.

At the end, IMHO, contrary to the popular belief Android didn't succeed because it was "open." It succeeded because all the most capable hardware manufacturers brought their phones on the platform since it was the only usable platform with iOS-like features that were available for others. WebOS is an excellent example.

Look at the topic of this thread, WebOS. It was and still remains an extremely capable OS but Palm couldn't match the hardware expertise and sheer amount of phones released by Motorola, HTC, Samsung, etc, so it failed. Plus Sprint wasn't really that ideal choice of a partner compared to what Verizon did for Android phones.

And with iCoud and iOS 5, Apple is only bringing features to the iPhone customers that Google offered from the very beginning.
...
and not only has Android caught up with iOS, it is now outperforming it in every aspect. (And just for the record, for a couple of months now, Android devices are also outselling iOS gadgets.)

"from the very beginning"? My Android phone, a Galaxy S, clearly doesn't do what iCloud says it will do even though it runs the latest Android ROMs. And I don't find it outperform iOS in "every aspect" at all. There are some nice areas I wish iOS does, definitely. But mostly I find Android, even at 2.3, feels a lot like an unpolished beta product in many ways, and would much prefer iOS. Alas, I'm with a non-iPhone carrier and so is my family so can't switch right now.

In any case, it's an interesting thought experiment to imagine what would've happened if Palm actively sold WebOS to licensees much earlier. An HTC EVO-like phone with WebOS would've been a very intriguing proposition back then.

 

[ZipZapRap]

Very cool. I've been hanging out for a Windows 8 tablet, but a TouchPad has really piqued my interest in the past week. I've no experience with HP hardware, but would be happy if to maybe trial one out for a year if someone like HTC made one. I have a HTC Mozart running WP7, and it's a very well built phone with a great OS.

 

[kdarling]

In any case, it's an interesting thought experiment to imagine what would've happened if Palm actively sold WebOS to licensees much earlier.

An HTC EVO-like phone with WebOS would've been a very intriguing proposition back then.

So true. So many people kept asking for a WebOS phone with a larger screen. It's too bad that Palm didn't listen and/or license it back then.

My oldest daughter still loves her Pixi and its Touchstone charger after well over a year of use. Her husband keeps trying to get her to go Android, but she doesn't see the need except perhaps for screen size.

The HP Pre 3 is supposedly finally coming out in July, but once again I think they missed the boat as far as timing and form factor goes. (It's still a little tempting.)