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With the launch this week by HP of their new webOS offerings, I cannot help but think that HP have really missed the boat.

Not just because of the endless tablets that were trotted out by all-and-sundry manufacturers at CES. Nor is it because there was nothing new in the announcements by HP on Wednesday.

It is mainly because HP do not seem to have grasped that one of the most important aspects of having your own OS offering is to make sure that there are plenty of apps available. They seem to think it is all about the shiny new hardware (which actually seems ok) and that consumers will buy it just because of the shiny HP badge. Well they may be and yet I am sure the users are quickly going to regret that decision.

I was an early adopter of the webOS on the original Palm Pre. As much as I can say that it is a great OS for the smartphone platform and Palm did a great job developing it, the main reason that I ultimately ditched the Pre in favour of an Android phone, is the severe lack of apps available for webOS.

And it is no good just hoping that developers will also create apps for webOS, when they already are developing for the two major smartphone platforms. What is in it for the developers? Why should they when most of the smartphone and tablet consumers are using an Android or iOS device?

It is just like on the PC platform why a lot of software (and drivers) are only available for the Windows platform, because that is where the consumers are and it makes business sense for companies to concentrate their efforts.

And it is a real shame as I really liked the webOS as a platform. Unfortunately (for HP), Palm did the best thing selling out when the webOS platform did not take off. It was already dead by that point.

So don't be surprised if HP either ultimately ditch webOS or offer the ability to use Android.

Also noticed that HP have also said that they may put webOS on a PC or laptop. Again, I cannot see this working unless the number of apps dramatically increases, although I think that webOS on a PC/laptop is certainly an interesting idea. Seems like what Apple have done with their Mac store.

  Sarah (@sarahjaneuk)

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Ewen Rankin

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