HP will shortly begin producing its own mobile phones for the first time in several years, and it will be using its newly acquired WebOS operating system exclusively.
Although HP has an extremely tight relationship with Microsoft on the PC side of the market, the company has confirmed that it has no interest in using the upcoming Windows Phone 7 platform.
Earlier this year, HP acquired fledgling smartphone maker Palm for $1.2 billion, bringing with it the WebOS mobile platform.
Before that, HP was developing multimedia tablets – iPad rivals – using both Google’s Android operating system as well as Microsoft’s mobile platform. However, those plans have been shelved and it is now working on a WebOS tablet. The company is now taking the same approach to mobile phones.
Brighthand.com reports that HP’s new smartphone chief Todd Bradley expects WebOS to become a serious competitor to Android.
Before Palm was dissolved into HP, it was able to release two phones on its latest operating system: the Pre and the Pixi. Both were well received by critics, as was the WebOS platform itself. However, they were absolutely trounced by Android and iPhone which dominated the media’s attention. In terms of sales, the Pre and Pixi were total flops.
HP has the benefit of being a very well-known name that has done well in a versatile market including digital cameras, computers, and printers.
