Every new HP computer will be able to run the company’s webOS as well as Microsoft’s Windows 7. CEO Leo Apotheker is emphasizing this positioning of his company’s new operating system, acquired when it bought Palm.
HP purchased the struggling smartphone maker for $1.2 billion in 2010, and it has since been open about the fact that acquiring the webOS platform was a key reason. In a recent interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Apotheker said that he was intent on creating “a massive platform” for webOS that would present an enticing target for third-party developers.
6,000 Apps
Currently, webOS is way behind in native applications. The company admits there are only about 6,000 applications, compared to about 350,000 for Apple’s devices and about 250,000 for devices based on Google’s open-source operating system, Android.
While a new OS can take time to sell enough devices that will represent a viable platform for developers, including it in HP’s computers means that webOS would be on millions of devices within a year.
HP had announced the inclusion of webOS along with Windows during its big event in early February, when it unveiled its TouchPad tablet and two new smartphones using the new OS. But the news was largely buried within the new product announcements, and now HP is deciding to emphasize the inclusion.
HP had described the February event as the demonstration of “a unified experience for the first time across a variety of devices.” Jon Rubinstein, the ex-Apple executive who is senior vice president and general manager of the Palm Global Business Unit at HP, had said in a statement that the goal was to link “a wide family of HP products.”
‘Bit of an End Run’
According to HP, webOS will run on top of Windows in a customized user interface, and is not expected to replace the…