webOS 3.0 screenshots: Bing Maps, Music, and more [Exclusive]
While we're sitting around waiting for webOS 3.0 and the HP TouchPad to land in our laps, we couldn't help but wonder about some of the details of that tablet operating system. Well fret not, dear reader …
Context & Ripple Effects
HP inherited webOS with its acquisition of Palm, and the platform's reputation was built early: developers called webOS promising back in 2009, and the webOS 2.0 review in October 2010 showed a phone OS still searching for its second act. The TouchPad is meant to be that second act — the first hardware large enough to prove the platform beyond phones.
These PreCentral screenshots matter because they show whose services fill the tablet's defaults. Bing Maps appearing in pre-release builds points to Microsoft as a launch partner on an OS that has no Google relationship, while a Music application confirms HP is building first-party media apps rather than shipping the tablet bare. Notably, no syndicated pickup or public discussion shows up around this leak — the detail is circulating through enthusiast channels only.
First-order effects
- Bing Maps gains default placement on HP's flagship tablet, giving Microsoft a distribution win on hardware where Google Maps has no seat at the table.
- HP's pre-release Music app signals the TouchPad will launch with a first-party media experience, raising the baseline of what the device ships with.
Second-order effects
- Google is locked out of default mapping on the one new tablet OS outside iOS and Android, pushing its services onto the platform only if users install them manually.
- Microsoft's Bing Maps team, fresh off its November 2010 site redesign and expanded Map Apps and StreetSide access, gets a mobile form factor to justify continued investment against Google Maps.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, tablet differentiation shifts from hardware specs to which bundled cloud services each OS ships with — making service partnerships like this one a competitive lever for any challenger platform.
The trend: Challenger mobile platforms are differentiating through third-party service partnerships — here Microsoft's mapping on HP's tablet — rather than through hardware alone.