Windows-based PCs dominate the PC market, but when was the last time you heard any vendor make a significant claim of differentiation? HP hopes to change that with the webOS software it acquired as part of its $1.2 billion purchase of Palm last year.
In an interview this week, HP CEO Leo Apotheker said that next year all of the PCs HP ships will include the ability to run webOS in addition to Microsoft Windows. The result could be a new market and opportunity for developers.
“You create a massive platform,” Apotheker told Bloomberg.
“Leo wants to entice the developers. If they come, he’s saying, so will the consumers. It’s free for HP to throw it on the box,” Roger Kay, principal analyst and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, told InternetNews.com. “But developers won’t come unless they see a market. If the consumers have the platforms, theoretically the seats are there.”
HP continues to be a key Microsoft partner, but has also made it clear that it has high hopes and investing considerable developer and marketing resources into webOS.
Datamation has a full report on Apotheker’s remarks including areas he said the company planned to invest in.