HP just wrapped up its conference call regarding its acquisition of Palm. Based upon what we heard, HP doesn’t seem to be particularly interested in anything but webOS, which it plans to build out as a part of its connected mobile ecosystem. Here are some of the highlights of what HP has in store for webOS:
- An emphasis on building out webOS and leveraging HP’s financial resources, scale, and global presence to do so
- Investment in building a robust development platform to make app development easier and smoother for developers
- Increasing the investment in both R&D and marketing/sales of webOS
- Bringing webOS devices to both consumer and commercial markets in the form of smartphones and tablets
- HP has not set a timeline for webOS deployment on HP hardware, want to focus on closing the deal first
- Palm CEO John Rubinstein and his team will continue to work on webOS
- No decision has been made on what will happen to HP’s current lineup of Windows Mobile-powered iPAQs. Their fate will be decided when the deal is closer to completion
- webOS will play a key role in what HP calls its connected mobile ecosystem. The focus will be on on connecting devices across HP’s lineup to to create an HP experience
- HP will not be content creators but access providers. Providing cloud-based solution to access and manage data. HP would not comment on whether they will try to create an iTunes-like infrastructure and will wait until the deal is completely squared away before looking further into the matter
In the end, it’s clear that HP bought Palm to integrate webOS into its brand and to grow the platform to the next level. The fact that it also is acquiring a large treasure chest of patents is merely icing on the cake.
