HP: WebOS tablet coming early next year
Hewlett-Packard will release a tablet PC based on Palm's webOS operating system in “early 2011,” the head of HP's PC division said Thursday. — Hewlett-Packard will release a tablet PC based on Palm's webOS operating system in “early 2011,” the head of HP's PC division said Thursday.
Context & Ripple Effects
HP's PC division head has publicly committed to a webOS tablet for "early 2011," converting what had been rumor into roadmap. The confirmation lands nine days after reports that HP told employees the slate would arrive in Q1 2011, and it effectively settles the direction HP signaled in July when it shelved its planned Android tablet following the $1.2 billion Palm acquisition.
Timing matters: the announcement came alongside earnings that VentureBeat framed as "Hurd's last hurrah" — outgoing CEO Mark Hurd resigned on August 7 over a sexual harassment claim, leaving a rumored succession fight at the top just as HP stakes its tablet future on Palm's operating system.
First-order effects
- Palm's $1.2B price tag now has a dated product attached: webOS moves from phone-only bet to HP's chosen tablet OS, displacing Android from HP's 2010-2011 slate plans.
- The public date gives webOS app developers a concrete target window to build for a second HP form factor, building on the developer outreach Palm began with carriers like AT&T in June.
Second-order effects
- Rival PC makers face a fork: license webOS from HP or double down on Android and Windows slates, while Google loses a marquee hardware partner for its tablet push.
- Retailers and carriers planning holiday 2010 tablet lineups must slot HP into an early-2011 window instead, ceding the season to incumbents like Apple's iPad and whatever Android vendors ship.
Third-order effects
- If HP ships on schedule, large PC OEMs will increasingly treat owning a mobile OS — rather than reskinning Android or waiting on Windows — as the entry ticket to the tablet market, echoing the vertical integration Apple demonstrated.
- A successful launch would also pressure HP to decide whether webOS stays an exclusive asset or gets licensed to other handset and slate makers, reshaping it from Palm's niche platform into a potential third mobile ecosystem.
The trend: PC manufacturers are acquiring their own mobile operating systems to escape commodity Android/Windows hardware economics as tablets become the industry's growth battleground.