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HP CEO Hints That webOS Might Be Licensed Out
In an interview with This Is My Next, HP’s CEO Leo Apotheker was quoted as saying:
Q: You might license to WebOS. That puts you in direct competition with Microsoft?
Leo: I happen to believe that WebOS is a uniquely outstanding operating system. It’s not correct to believe that it should only be on HP devices. There are all kinds of other people who want to make whatever kind of hardware they make and would like to connect them to the Internet. We’ll make it available to enteprises and to SMBs. It will run on lots of HP devices.
Q: Would you license it to HTC?
Leo: It is certainly something we would entertain.
As it stands webOS is limited only to HP products, but the idea that they might be licensing out their webOS seems like it could be a way for them to start gaining some ground in the smartphone market which is largely dominated by iOS and Android. At the very least it should be giving Microsoft a run for their money, especially if other phone manufacturers such as Samsung or HTC do pick up the licenses to develop webOS smartphones. Would you pick up a webOS phone currently, or do you think that webOS on another manufacturer’s device would be more appealing?
HP has indulged in the tablet market for quite a number of years already, although they have not exactly been the most successful of companies in this particular niche. This time around, it does look as though HP will be preparing a couple of new tablets – that do seem to obtain a strong influence from Huawei, so much so that they could very well be just rebranded devices.
How does a HP branded smartphone sound to you? I am quite sure that those of us out there who are more concerned about reliability might prefer a brand name that has fared far better than HP in the smartphone industry, such as the likes of Samsung, Apple, Nokia or LG. Well, if you love rooting for the underdog always, and want to give something different a try, HP might have just the thing for you.
An alleged HP smartphone was leaked out earlier this week, and it certainly seemed to jive with what HP Senior Director Yam Su Yin mentioned earlier this month, that HP intends to make a return to the smartphone business by introducing a unique model. The executive was even quoted, that “HP has to be in the game.” Do you think you will pick up a HP branded smartphone when the time comes?
HP could be working on a spanking new high end Android-powered tablet which they have seen fit to call the HP SlateBook 10 X2. Of course, this is a particularly new piece of tech which was first picked up by the good people over at TabTech of Germany, courtesy of an AnTuTu benchmark. The HP SlateBook 10 X2 does seem to come with a 10” display of unknown resolution count, where it will be accompanied by a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4 processor that has been clocked at 1.8GHz, and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean in tow.
No idea on pricing or availability of the HP SlateBook 10 X2 though, but then again, it would not be the first of such devices to be announced by what was once a major computer manufacturing force in the world, since we have been acquainted with the Windows 8-powered HP Envy X2 before this. We do, however, hope to hear and see more about the HP SlateBook 10 X2 in due time.