[bluenote]

--Writer says Whitman is taking this on as a pet project, suggesting it will get backing and funding from HP

--Says webOS advantage over Android is that:
HP made enterprise security modifications
app store weeds out malware
HP has broad patents

Drawbacks:
hardware manufacturers may worry HP will step back in. He thinks though Googles purchase of Motorola somewhat tips the balance. We will have to see if HP has already lined-up or is in talks with hardware manufacturers.

App store is less robust. Doesn't really address this but does say market wants another player and webOS apps can run in the browser, providing " a strong value proposition" for webOS

Business model that brings in revenue-- thinks Whitman's support will help shelter webOS but that said, no business model was discussed. My personal thought is that she drafted a 5 year plan to see if it can grow into a robust platform which generates revenue; she has allocated a certain amount of HP funding for those 5 years--an amount that would be more suitable to a startup. Her hopes are that open community will be able to create value with the capped investment.

HP's New Plan For WebOS: Meg Whitman's Signature Effort - Forbes

[hpsalesguy]

wow, I didn't realize this is a pet project for Meg. There is a lot optimism here about the market needing a third choice to iOS/Android and discounting RIM.

[kalel33]

wow, I didn't realize this is a pet project for Meg. There is a lot optimism here about the market needing a third choice to iOS/Android and discounting RIM.

I thought WP7 was the third choice, especially with Windows 8 coming out next year. I thought the best that WebOS would do was a 4th choice.

[etphoto]

Currently I would put WebOS at 4th, taking Windows into account. One year from now, who knows. I'm hoping for the best but I'm not going to hold my breath. Of course, I think WebOS has a greater chance at moving up in a year then the "WebOS is dead" drum beaters.

PS: Has anyone noticed the increased "WebOS is dead" crowd appearances since Meg made the announcement of making WebOS open source?

[giggles]

obviously windows is a clear 3rd. Webos isnt there yet. In a year to two years or further one we can make that judgement.

[bluenote]

Enderle sure likes webOS. He says android is a security disaster waiting to happen, MSFT will be too confusing, trying to be too many things. That leaves webOS which he says should be easily put on everything, car dashboards to tablets and anything with a browser will run the apps. Very Interesting.




Is WebOS Meg Whitman's iPod? | Blogs | ITBusinessEdge.com

[cgk]

Currently I would put WebOS at 4th, taking Windows into account. One year from now, who knows. I'm hoping for the best but I'm not going to hold my breath. Of course, I think WebOS has a greater chance at moving up in a year then the "WebOS is dead" drum beaters.

PS: Has anyone noticed the increased "WebOS is dead" crowd appearances since Meg made the announcement of making WebOS open source?

If an OEM is serious (rather than turning out bottom dollar junk), you are looking at least 8-12 months to turn out competitive hardware and do whatever customisations or skins they want to put on WebOS to differentiate it from other offerings - that clock can't actually start ticking until WebOS becomes Open Source. I see Rod and other people saying that this could take at least three months - so the chances are that there either be no WebOS devices in 2012. If HP drags it's feed and it takes then six months, then you could be looking at nearly 2013.

It all comes down to how quickly they can turn this around and if how quickly they can convince OEMs to take a chance on it. The other issue tied to that is that most OEMs will have their roadmap for 2012 already fixed and resources committed so they might not have the ability to jump in before 2013 anyway.

[cgk]

I actually advised a project looking at the adoption of tablets for students (University students) - there were a number of pedagogical and usability issues (which still exist) with all of the platforms but it basically worked out that Android came last, WebOS was a little behind of it in terms of usability but behind it on apps and both were completely wiped out by iOS and the Ipad - not for usability but simply because of the range of leading educational apps that were available and the support that was around from major players within the sector. If I remember correctly, all that was available at the time on WebOS was a flashcard app from a one-man band (no offence intended). Moreover, the risk of Apple pulling the plug on the ipad or not supporting it was none to none.

WebOS was really hurt by a number of things but it's awful PDF app (with no timeline for fixes) was one of them and if I remember correctly the other was that it simply did not work with the Virtual Learning Environment the university had, while the ipad worked fine out of the box.

The bottom-line was that nobody on the project would support spending any more on anything but ipads.

[palmless]

PS: Has anyone noticed the increased "WebOS is dead" crowd appearances since Meg made the announcement of making WebOS open source?

Yep. The phrase "Death by Open Sourcing" is entering the lexicon, and WebOS will likely displace Meego, Symbian, Solaris, etc. as the poster child for that phrase. But we all missed the other Forbes article.

[bluenote]

Yep. The phrase "Death by Open Sourcing" is entering the lexicon, and WebOS will likely displace Meego, Symbian, Solaris, etc. as the poster child for that phrase. But we all missed the other Forbes article.

We didn't miss that article, it said what everyone else was saying about the doom of webOS, including some good tweets from Rod Whitby at webos-internals about the issues surrounding open source.

I am taking cheer, however, that Rod Whitby had his call with the CTO of HP after that article was posted and the tweets from webOS-internals turned excited and positive about the possibilities of webOS expansion after the call--a very big endorsement from a hard-headed person who is not afraid to call the truth as he sees it.

[paul-c]

I'm a Cub fan, so rooting for webOS seems fitting. I laughed when I read that.

[etphoto]

I'm a Cub fan, so rooting for webOS seems fitting. I laughed when I read that.

lol. I can say the same thing being a Bengals fan.

[eblade]

You think you guys have it tough, I'm in Detroit.

Rebuilding football for 56 years and counting!