HP To Preload webOS Everywhere To Drive Its Cloud

Hewlett-Packard's CEO Leo Apotheker has stepped out of the shadows and pinned his company's colors to the cloud mast.

The new strategy, outlined yesterday, shows clearly that the purchase of webOS with Palm was nothing to do with being a mobile device player per se, and everything to do with creating a cloud offering that runs on HP technologies from end to end. As well as launching its own cloud service marketplace to compete with Amazon and Google, HP will preload webOS on PCs, printers and any other product that will be used to connect to that platform.

Focal Points:

• "webOS will provide one user interface across home, the business and the enterprise," Apotheker said.
• The dream of the cloud was to be able to access apps, data and content from any browser enabled device, anywhere. Like other vendors, including Amazon itself, HP is trying to narrow that down a little, forcing users to use devices that run its own systems. Also like its rival and template, it will not be able to take too rigid a line on that - access to its services from Windows, Android and others could hardly be barred, but it will aim to make a superior experience, especially for the enterprise, on its own OS, which will span a wider range of products than any other.
• "We intend to be the platform for cloud and connectivity," said Apotheker in his first major presentation since becoming CEO in September, when he replaced Mark Hurd. "HP intends to build and run an HP cloud. We will launch a public cloud offering in the near future." This will host HP and third party apps and services, including a store for enterprise and consumer bases. HP will also control the critical glue or middleware, which it will roll out over the course of the year.
• The app store will have a broader remit than the mobile specific ones like App Store, though opening dates remain vague. The marketplace will integrated consumer, enterprise and developer services, including the store plus tools and enterprise services and support, Apotheker said.
• He claims that, by including webOS in all its PCs and other devices, it will quickly create a huge base and ecosystem for the system, shipping it in as many as 100m products a year (preloading in PCs will start at the turn of the year). Iin many cases, by running it alongside other OSs like Windows, rather than going to all-out war with more established platforms.

As virtualization becomes more common, webOS could even run alongside other systems of the user's choice, such as Android - as long as the HP technology comes into play for cloud services, making it indispensable, even if it does not sit by itself. And while the word 'PC' was scarcely mentioned in the official documentation accompanying the launch, HP has a clear interest in prolonging the PC's life, as a cloud device. "People like to use PCs and printers," said Apotheker. "Traditional technology is where we create a lot of value."