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HP Considering Licensing WebOS, Samsung Reportedly Interested

whooleytoo said:
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. It sounds like they're taking a leaf out of Nokia's book in chopping and changing and trying different strategies, and look how their lead in the smartphone market has been whittled away.

Sometimes it's better to make ANY decision, decisively; rather than hedge your bets and see what happens.

Whatever one might say about Apple, you can't deny they have a clear, decisive road-plan for iOS and their devices.
Click to expand...

Thats unfortunately typical for many companies these day ... they are not spending the time and money to research the market and do user studies to see what is the 'best' fit - seems to be cheaper to throw a big variety of devices on the market and wait which one survives - customers do the testing for them
 
NebulaClash said:
Uh, this makes no sense. Why would Samsung have any interest when they already have Android, you know the OS that its supporters tell us is light years ahead of iOS with a great ecosystem around it? Samsung should just tell HP, "No thanks, we already have a better OS."

But that's not what Samsung is doing. Why?
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That's like saying that it doesn't make sense to have more than one web browser installed on your computer.

They'll make more money, reach out to more people, etc.
 
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NebulaClash said:
Uh, this makes no sense. Why would Samsung have any interest when they already have Android, you know the OS that its supporters tell us is light years ahead of iOS with a great ecosystem around it? Samsung should just tell HP, "No thanks, we already have a better OS."

But that's not what Samsung is doing. Why?
Click to expand...

Hmm. Subtle.

Seriously though, I think Samsung reckon the android tablet market is going to turn into a bloody indistinguishable mess when competitors release honeycomb tablets.
I don't see it as a knock on Honeycomb technically that they are looking elsewhere
 
The TouchPad is a pretty good iPad 1 clone. I spent some time with it yesterday at Best Buy. Seems very responsive and it may have the hardware that can finally run WebOS well.

But will they every have the apps? I don't know.

I wish HP would lift the embargo so we could see some reviews of the TouchPad. I know Topolsky and others probably have the units.
 
They might as well. Was told Palm was purchased mostly to get out of a royalty replacing ThreadX with webOS in their printers and scanners. The Palm tablet came out mostly it was so far along already and the production margins were satisfactory. There is not much of a future for HP in the smartphone business.

The Palm webOS could be a nice alternative to Andriod for those that are sick of the fragmentation of that market. They do this right, webOS could be that "wacky number three" up there with Wendy's, Chrysler, Dr. Pepper and Indian Motorcycles.
 
NebulaClash said:
Uh, this makes no sense. Why would Samsung have any interest when they already have Android, you know the OS that its supporters tell us is light years ahead of iOS with a great ecosystem around it? Samsung should just tell HP, "No thanks, we already have a better OS."

But that's not what Samsung is doing. Why?
Click to expand...

Samsung already makes WP7 phones. They're not exclusive to Android.

I welcome this. webOS looks like a great OS and the limited chances I've had to play with a Pre, I liked it, but the Pre hardware is kinda, meh. If HP licenses it out, and you can get webOS on Galaxy II hardware, it would be a huge win IMO.
 
wordoflife said:
That's like saying that it doesn't make sense to have more than one web browser installed on your computer.
Click to expand...

For the average user this is exactly true. It doesn't make sense unless you're a developer or a particular bank website requires a different browser.

Don't use yourself as representative of the majority market.
 
A partnership with HP would allow Samsung, which uses Android for its Galaxy Tab tablet computers, to customize devices amid speculation that Google may restrict modifications for phones that use Android, said one of the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private.
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I suspect if Google do impose restrictions it's probably going to be for good reasons, such as fragmentation and to stop handset makers messing things up. I suppose it's understandable that handset makers who want to mess thigns up won't like that.
 
gumblecosby said:
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Hmm. Subtle.

Seriously though, I think Samsung reckon the android tablet market is going to turn into a bloody indistinguishable mess when competitors release honeycomb tablets.
I don't see it as a knock on Honeycomb technically that they are looking elsewhere
Click to expand...

That's how I see it too. Samsung sees that the Android market is turning into a me-too market with not much to make one vendor stand out. Plus the patent mess that causes some vendors already to pay for every Android phone they sell, and fears that it will soon get worse. So Samsung hedges its bets.

Frankly for a company like Samsung, that is the smart thing to do. Be OS agnostic. Sell whatever sells. Of course for Android supporters, they have to realize that Samsung is not on your side. They just sell 'em, they don't believe in 'em.
 
NebulaClash said:
Uh, this makes no sense. Why would Samsung have any interest when they already have Android, you know the OS that its supporters tell us is light years ahead of iOS with a great ecosystem around it? Samsung should just tell HP, "No thanks, we already have a better OS."

But that's not what Samsung is doing. Why?
Click to expand...

Samsung is also producing WP7 phones and also have their own "feature" phone OS for which they produce handsets. It seems Samsung is interested in diversity to sell more handsets. And it's working for them. Overall, all models it sells outsell even Apple in terms of handsets. They are second only to Nokia right now in the cellphone market for handsets moved worldwide.

That is Samsung's plan : "Yes please, we have great OSes already, one more means more handset sales!". Not everyone is a one trick pony like Apple.
 
*LTD* said:
For the average user this is exactly true. It doesn't make sense unless you're a developer or a particular bank website requires a different browser.
Click to expand...
Whops, I need to rephrase that. That didn't come out right.

Don't use yourself as representative of the majority market.
Click to expand...
I didn't.
 
Anything from having Android majority. A healthy market is when all competitors have good market share. 25% Droid 25% iPhones 25% Windows Phones and 25% webOS. Sorry Blackberry.
 
KnightWRX said:
Not everyone is a one trick pony like Apple.
Click to expand...

Yes, you can certainly tell. Which is why Apple is achieving what they are, with only ONE phone.

Imagine how HP could have advanced the state of the art if they didn't license and rolled their own. Of course, to succeed in that area requires a completely new way of thinking, a completely different philosophy. Perhaps cooler heads at HP realized they don't have that and weren't willing to develop it. So they opted to play it safe and race to the bottom with the others.

wordoflife said:
Whops, I need to rephrase that. That didn't come out right.


I didn't.
Click to expand...

Apologies, then. I get your meaning.
 
*LTD* said:
Too late. Not good enough. Anyone looking to make it big needs to pull off a June, 2007.
Click to expand...

Or a Nov 2007. Over 500,000 (*) Android devices are being activated each day now, and is growing at a rate where it could be a million a day by Christmas.

I agree it's harder to get "big" now, but as Jobs once said, all you need is just a small piece of the pie to be happy.

(*) Actually a lot more, since Google only counts those devices that include Google services like Maps. Many inexpensive tablets aren't part of that number.

akatsuki said:
By splintering WebOS, they will lose a lot of their advantage since it will lead to app incompatibility and the rest… The same thing happening to Android is why Google pulled back.
Click to expand...

1) A license doesn't mean splintering the OS. Look at Windows and Windows Mobile. It simply meant lots of hardware choices.

2) No, it wasn't app compatibility that Google was worried about. Manufacturers have to pass a compatibility test with each version in order to be able to call it by that version name. They were worried about making it more difficult for Google to do global OS updates in the future if someone went far astray without coordinating with Google.
 
As long as HP has strict hardware requirements and doesn't allow Samsung or others to put a theme on it. I can see this being great.
 
whooleytoo said:
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. It sounds like they're taking a leaf out of Nokia's book in chopping and changing and trying different strategies, and look how their lead in the smartphone market has been whittled away.

Sometimes it's better to make ANY decision, decisively; rather than hedge your bets and see what happens.

Whatever one might say about Apple, you can't deny they have a clear, decisive road-plan for iOS and their devices.
Click to expand...

That would be THREE operating systems;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bada_(operating_system)

Seriously Samsung, pick one and stick with it.
 
KnightWRX said:
Samsung is also producing WP7 phones and also have their own "feature" phone OS for which they produce handsets. It seems Samsung is interested in diversity to sell more handsets. And it's working for them. Overall, all models it sells outsell even Apple in terms of handsets. They are second only to Nokia right now in the cellphone market for handsets moved worldwide.

That is Samsung's plan : "Yes please, we have great OSes already, one more means more handset sales!". Not everyone is a one trick pony like Apple.
Click to expand...

You are so predictable. You have to bash Apple in a thread focused on Samsung and HP. Might be a 12 step program for that.
 
KnightWRX said:
That is Samsung's plan : "Yes please, we have great OSes already, one more means more handset sales!". Not everyone is a one trick pony like Apple.
Click to expand...

Yup, which is why Apple became the most successful technology company on the planet. Not everyone has caught on to the 21st-century success model. Hint: Following Microsoft's 1990s model won't be it.
 
AriX said:
The original Palm OS was successfully licensed to a variety of manufacturers with limited fragmentation, and I wouldn't be surprised if they could pull it off again.

WebOS is a great operating system, and having more competitors in this market who are actually innovating is good news for everyone.
Click to expand...

I think you need to define "successfully licensed". As you recall, Palm split into a software company and a hardware company after they started licensing the OS. This was likely one of the biggest reasons for the eventual Palm failure (even thought they tried to correct that by ceasing software licenses - it was too late). Palm's business was most healthy when the software and hardware were tightly integrated.

So, if Android is becoming too "controlled" for Samsung, and other licensed approaches to mobile computing have had limited success, why would HP do any better?

I agree that WebOS is potentially a great challenger to iOS. But only if HP focuses on creating the complete ecosystem. That means not getting distracted by licensee demands which is exactly what will happen when you license WebOS.
 
If you read the article on This is my next, HP is really only interested in a relationship like that of Nokia/Microsoft and do not want to be an afterthought OS.
 
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This is a great idea, but not with Samsung... Try HTC. Samsung makes cheap feeling hardware (as far as their products). If Samsung can make a solid piece of hardware then I'd think other wise, but until then, thumbs down.
 
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