HP: WebOS Will Be On Every PC We Ship in 2012

By Jane McEntegart
published

And you thought you'd have to get a Veer or HP TouchPad to get your hands on WebOS!

Last month HP unveiled a whole line of devices utilizing the WebOS operating system it gained when it acquired Palm last year. However, it seems a brand spanking new line of WebOS mobile devices was just the tip of the iceberg; HP plans to put WebOS on a lot more of its machines. In fact, by next year, it’s going to be on all of them.

Speaking to Bloomberg, HP CEO Leo Apotheker said that starting in 2012, every one of HP’s PCs will be shipped with the ability to run WebOS as well as Windows.

Speaking to the Seattle Times, Phil McKinney, CTO of HP's personal systems group, said the company's new approach would be "a combination of taking the existing operating systems and bringing WebOS onto those platforms and making it universal across all of our footprint."

According to Bloomberg, the aim of including WebOS is to encourage developers to develop applications for more than just phones and tablets. The end result is hopefully differentiating HP PCs, printers, tablets and phones from competitors' products.

Read the full story here.

Jane McEntegart
32 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dragonsqrrl
    Interesting, I didn't realize HP was developing a version of WebOS for the desktop/laptop market.
    Reply
  • This is NOT going to work very well for HP....
    Reply
  • MAGPC
    HP, I don't like Microsoft.
    But, in desktops, they are their region of absolute power, even I would not change to webOS.
    Remember, Microsoft is not Google or Apple.
    Reply
  • cruiseoveride
    Just make Ubuntu default and call it a day.
    Reply
  • jkflipflop98
    cruiseoverideJust make Ubuntu default and call it a day.
    Either way I have to spend an hour formatting the crapware off my new computer and installing a fresh copy of Win7
    Reply
  • dkant1n
    I would like to see Microsoft's reaction to this. Currently HP is their largest client
    Reply
  • User69
    They must be pretty damn confident to make a such a bold move to put it on all of their PC's. Hopefully this brings more competition to the market. Good for HP to take a risk.
    Reply
  • PreferLinux
    Can you read??? They are putting WebOS on there along with Windoze or whatever else.
    Reply
  • XD_dued
    PreferLinuxCan you read??? They are putting WebOS on there along with Windoze or whatever else.
    Yea this is supposed to be something like asus express gate it seems like. So if you need to do something quickly you can boot into WebOS, and for more intensive things Windows.
    Reply
  • zoemayne
    yea they cant just drop windows this will be like a dual boot thing or a situation where it defaults to windows. they cant just switch to another OS which doesnt have a large base of programs openly available which can do everything windows can.
    Reply