HP CEO: Expect webOS slates and printers 59
by Dieter Bohn Tue, 18 May 2010 5:22 pm EDT
HP is just finishing up their quarterly earnings call (hint: they're doing just fine) and CEO Mark Hurd has just confirmed that we should expect HP to give us devices "beyond smartphones into form factors such as slates and web-connected printers." We're not entirely sure how much value-add there is to a printer on webOS just yet, but our wheels are turning.
As for the slate, well, at this point it would be a surprise if an HP executive didn't drop a hint about a webOS slate on a call like this - or heck, while making dinner reservations. They're really excited about a webOS slate.
via @hpnews
59 Comments
I can't wait! Hope webOS just explodes and floods the market!
Extremely exciting news imho...i cant wait to see what they push out! I'm pumped!!!
It also means software developers who've been sitting on the fence about webOS are much more likely to initiate or complete developments.
Think about it guys... The webOS interface is the easiest way to interface with a printer, camera, fridge etc... Swiping gestures are easy for any age or intelligence to use... I for one CANNOT WAIT!...
twitter.com/mrkalel
+1
HP all-in-one printers/scanners/faxes/copiers already come with LCD screens built in. Just make those screens larger and make them touchscreens and you have a great interface for all that rich functionality that is a pain to navigate on the device today.
Retouching scanned or usb/sdcard loaded photos right on your printer's LCD screen will be a joy using a WebOS based application. Imagine that same interface on your phone for even more convenience. Print a photo or document right from your phone.
yes - webOS the new microwave os - that where I need internet and all this apps - how good programs work if you didn't design them for a specific device or even screen size we have seen on all this attempts with 'write it once, use it everywhere' programming languages.
you are laughing about Androids diversity in versions? what what the diversity of devices does to webOS....
the problem with android is not that its on a bunch of different devices. the problem is that there are too many manufactures, and to few hardware guidelines. This makes it difficult to give all android devices the same OS version. in some cases, devices with the same android OS versions still cant run the same apps because of other hardware differenes. Since HP/Palm is in control of the hardware and the software, they can be developed side-by-side to avoid fragmentation.
yay...
Too bad I wouldn't buy a WebOS tablet.
Smartphone please.
i'm with you. i'm not much for tablets. And a tablet without the options of the iphone app catalog is a tough sell to me. maybe once there are big name apps in the webos catalog but not with the apps they are making now.
I've no interest in tablet computers but i think it's good that they want to be on more phones. i think palm has been way to slow to bring phones to market. so more webos devices would probably be good.
Don't know how it will help a printer except make development of the app (the UI you actually need) easier.
I want a new phone in canada first.
edit: gsm phone at that, then a webOS 20inch computer/TV.
webOS tablet? who cares! I'm more excited about webOS printers! could you imagine playing 3D games on a printer! Color me excited! :D
Now on top of the 'Too Many Cards' error we'll also get 'Not Enough Ink' popups. Joy.
yeah i totally don't get the printer angle but i'll take their word for it. Then again i got my printer from the dumpster when someone left it. But hey it works!
It makes a little sense for a printer. There are a lot of web-apps or web-pages you might want to print out (for example a map with directions from google maps), which you could do right from the printer screen, without having to turn on your PC. You could also do simple photo-retouching (e.g. get rid of red-eyes) before printing some pictures, and other simple tasks of that sort.
Ya'll are nuts...I will buy all of if you want to spend your money on just apps and not functionality, be my guest. I am a designer, and would love to be able to run multiple graphics and pages at once without losing anything and being able coordinate on one huge screen.
How does the advantages of webOS translate to a printer platform???
To begin with: user centric interface for once. Imagine apple designing the user interface of every single appliance you use, then, let it multitask :P.
So far, it hasn't even proven itself on a phone. Having failed at it's primary purpose, you want to put it on a tablet for no better reason than Apple is doing it. Not niche enough for you? Why not slap it on printers, TVs, microwaves? It's bound to work out on something.
It seems Palm fans have given up on having a successful phone. Pitty.
You have got to be kidding me... And where do you base your facts? Another webOS bashing website article? The fact that there has been horrible marketing by Sprint and Verizon? If the Pre and Pixi would have gotten the same amount of hype from the press as the iPhone got from day 1, there would be tons more positive things to say about the software... Instead, HP is going to give Palm something they have lacked since day, resulting from horrible leadership: cashflow. I find it funny how the bashers come out now that there is a guiding light at the end of the tunnel. Meanwhile, myself and the other webOS believers will be laughing all the way to the bank when we take over the market.
As weird as it sounds, webOS on a printer would for once make a printer not a nigthmare to use (those office ones with those weird error messages that looks like taken from a twitter hashtag...), even in an office phone. User centric interface for every single hp appliance.
The other thing is: HP scale is huge, they get revenues in the two digits billions for every division, just a little bit of that in R&D for palm makes a lot of difference, and HP wont want palm to have any less potential.
They almost dropped the ball with ipaq few years ago and didnt even tried anymore; but now they are in the game again.
LOLOLOLOL A WebOS printer. HAHAHAHA Will an 800Mhz patch make me print more copies per minute? HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAH It's even funnier people here trying to justify the need for a WebOS printer. HAHAHAHAHA
Dude, are you seriously still trolling this site? No one likes you, you're like the fat kid who whines too much in the third grade... A webOS printer would dominate the market due to its ease of use, thus not needing justification. You need to leave this forum alone. Go find an EVO forum to join and leave the real webOS supporters alone.
Why in the world would you waste your time on a forum for a product you don't believe in??? What a waste of time for you, I'm embarrassed for you.
I understand that HP has a large stake in printers but I believe other appliances would have a larger benefit from webOS but heck they are the ones raking in the millions so i will leave it up to them.
Having a touchscreen is one of the biggest things that printer manufacturers have been pushing to differentiate themselves from each other. Besides having a nice UI, I could imagine it doing some of the same things that my Lexmark can do, which can download pre-made scripts to handle printing tasks. For example, it can pull down the latest stocks from your favorite website, and print them off, or print them off for you and send an email to your friend. It can scan a document, convert to PDF and email it. You have to remember that it's also a fax and scanner, so imagine what you might be able to do with a scanner that's connected to the web ... like post to Facebook, or Flickr.
Well people, look at HPs current printer line-up. They ALREADY have a touch printer: HP Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/printer/Photosmart/1/storefronts/CD73...
It was actually the first thing that came to my mind when I read about HP purchasing Palm. That they would use webOS on future versions of these printers.
Im glad everyone in here is behaving as I knew they were going to behave.
Yes it's quite narrow minded to laugh with the idea of a webOS based printer. Of course nobody will buy it BECAUSE it has webOS. HP just thinks webOS will ALSO allow them to further develop and improve their current touch printer line up. And since I have already played with one of their Touch printers I DO see where webOS can work here!!
Um, in-device print preview? How about the ability to turn the printer into a wifi hotspot?
Or, hey, even better. Ability to print documents from the Internet without turning on a computer.
Spud-
I just looked at a youtube video of the Photosmart Premium and I have to agree webOS on that does make a lot of sense.
Exactly. These videos not only show that, they also show HP DOES know how to make ads :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4seecVVmJw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFmyUTCg8ak
I actually own a PS Premium and I do give HP props for developing a great UI but I think it would be easier to really utilize it's features with WebOs
I know WebOS on a printer probably sounds like a joke to most. I'm guessing those people have something on their desk that just prints (and really don't need much more than a power button). For those of us with these all-in-ones that have hundreds of features I think it would make life a little easier. Who remembers the OS Xerox developed decades ago that used an intuitive pointer with menu system? Don't recall? That's because Apple bought it and stuck it on computers and Mac OS was born. I have a feeling HP will do something similar with WebOS.
those of you laughing and giggling about webos on printers and slates need to look at the big picture...or do you even have a webos phone? there are so many places you could actually use this thing! i am very excited and the way everything is moving ahead. palm was very smart not to let any one else take the OS and other goodies and run off with it. think this was the perfect partnership.
I know WebOS on a printer probably sounds like a joke to most. I'm guessing those people have something on their desk that just prints (and really don't need much more than a power button). For those of us with these all-in-ones that have hundreds of features I think it would make life a little easier. Who remembers the OS Xerox developed decades ago that used an intuitive pointer with menu system? Don't recall? That's because Apple bought it and stuck it on computers and Mac OS was born. I have a feeling HP will do something similar with WebOS.
After seeing WebOS ported to a computer this week I was wondering if I could port it to my old HP TC1100 tablet... then I was wondering what would I do with it? I hope HP has clear plans to attract some 3rd party developers.
Just brainstorming, Synergy on a MFP or AIO would be pretty cool. It would sync your contacts for easier faxing or scan-to-emailing.
Here's a wrinkle though. WebOS smartphones are single-user devices, whereas printers are often shared. Some paradigms would need to change to make webOS multi-user.
Many photo printers have pretty sophisticated image browsing and manipulation software. It would be pretty sweet if that were opened up and you could run your pick of third-party image-manipulation apps on the printer before printing.
There could be printer apps for printing coupons or for purchasing and printing event tickets (Fandango, TicketMaster) or even print-at-home gift cards (Amazon). Not to mention newspapers (digests). How about crossword puzzles? Maps! Grocery lists! Recipes! I gotta think if you opened up printers to developers, some interesting things would happen. You can do all this stuff with a computer today, but really why do you need to?
I think HP's idea is like the Apple universe on steroids. Imagine WebOS becoming the standard OS for your home from not only tablets and smartphones but all sorts of appliances and peripherals. You wouldn't have to get apps to control everything beause that would already be built into the OS. I'm not sure if this is what they are thinking but I can see it being as much of a failure as a revolution.
I think HP's idea is like the Apple universe on steroids. Imagine WebOS becoming the standard OS for your home from not only tablets and smartphones but all sorts of appliances and peripherals. You wouldn't have to get apps to control everything beause that would already be built into the OS. I'm not sure if this is what they are thinking but I can see it being as much of a failure as a revolution.
I personally would buy a slate. I see it as the perfect night table and light travel device.
I can't wait for a slate either. That would be awesome.hope the printers don't take 3 1/2 minutes to turn on........
I can't wait for a slate either. That would be awesome.hope the printers don't take 3 1/2 minutes to turn on........
This sort of reaffirms my belief that HP is not going to do much in the smart phone market. They are talking about "doubling down" but have said very little about augmenting the smart phone sector directly. They've talked about WebOS, and slates, and now printers but very little - any? - promises or even forward-looking statements as to phones.
That is not to say that Palm has none in the pipeline, but I am thinking that is/was the + models for the carriers that did not have them.
Ok we are on a roll here everyone.. You get to your office set your HP WebOS phone into its TouchStone/docking station.. Its a hot spot so your printer/office printer connects, your voip desk phone connects & it register you within the LAN. Now touch coffee cup to order from lunch room, check V/Emails with a swipe on voip phone etc.. Etc...
Then go home put your phone on the Touchstone/Docking station, next to other family members phones & again your registered on the LAN, & can go to any touch screen device like tv remote, microwave, fridge, & swipe/gesture to your hearts desire.... Remember HP shipping 3.5 million devices an hour.. BTW saw this working at BellLabs 20 yrs ago using voice commands vs touch.. & it just needed the network & devices but was using Unix (developed at Bell Labs)... Kind of back to
the future stuff. BTW USWEST had a demo Lab in Phx showing all this stuff in 1990.....
I just wet myself.
Oh this would be so cool!!!
Can you see taking your SD card from your camera directly to your printer, previewing images via webOS card swipes, fliping, rotating, enlarging, color correcting, and finish with a frame border before print and without touching your desktop.
How bout a remote control that controls everything easily in the living room, but can also pull up websites with IMDB and TV Guide and order from Amazon and check email and the list goes on.
Almost everything could use webOS (ok maybe not a toaster) and I'm excited either way and looking forward to Palm and HP making waves.
Sorli...
The point of WebOS is to interface with the "cloud." People talking about taking a SD card from their camera to their printer and then cropping everything on the printer are missing the point. If all of your documents/photos are stored on a web-based system (as with google docs/flicker), why not have a printer that can interface directly with said system and print your documents/photos at will without the need of a computer? The point of WebOS is integration with the cloud (hence its name).
I really can't wait to play need for speed on my printer!! I wonder how many races I could get through before I had to set it down.
honestly, a mobile device network is cool. I don't really see webos controlling an entire set of home appliances is going to take off. No one is going to buy a webos connected device that doesn't have a webos phone, or tablet. I think we have a while off before it ever gets close to that big.
a printer that can be controlled by an app on our phone would be cool, but I still don't see why WebOS is nessisary or useful on the printer itself
"Hi Mom"
"I'm calling you from my printer"
"It is a little heavy, so I can't talk long"
Truthfully, I want a clean intuitive WebOS on a multi function printer.
I also want to control my TV, set top box, and my DVR from my WebOS slate. Homebrew, I'm sure, will write a patch that changes the TV aspect ratio, to match what is coming out of the DVR. Ordering PPV or Netflix would be a couple of touches and a swipe.
If we get webOS on HP Printers don't expect it to be exactly as the phone version.
My guess is that it optimize the core to launch faster (come on, no one wants to wait a minute and a half to print a document), it will be monotask, or if it's multitask, it couldn't have more than 3 apps open (do you think the printer will 1ghz proccesor and 512 ram ? obviously no), it wouldn't have access to the app catalog, no conacts, tasks, memos, etc. apps, instead, it will have Print, Email, Web browser, Scan, File browser apps and similar. I think the printing and scanning would work somehow like the video upload in our phones: once it starts to print/scan, you can see the progress in the notification area.
Anyone else thinking the C40 was a printer all along? :D
On web connected printers - HP's touch smart line has allowed for apps to be placed on web connected printers. webOS is a natural for this type of device since it is always on and always connected to the web. Also, webOS allows for simple development of apps of all kinds. One final thought, Hurd spent time at Terradata and is a big proponent of data and information to make informed decisions. webOS has synergy which would allow for streaming data to webOS apps on a web enabled printer. So, in this case webOS would add significant value over the current generation of HP touch smart printers.
I takes a Palm phone an 1.3 hours to start up, I just don't see a printer using webOS. ???
For all who think of a webOS printer in positive or interesting terms, check out Matthew Miller's ZDNet Blog at http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-gadgeteer. The rest of the url is /what-can-you-do-with-an-hp-webos-powered-printer/3247.
Am I the only one that believes this has very little to do with putting WebOS on a printer and much more to do with making a WebOS device plug and play compatible with an HP printer? I think the whole use case is about allowing you to wirelessly print anything (e.g., photo or doc) from your WebOS device (e.g., tablet or phone) using an HP printer.
I believe HP already have in place that capability since last year at least. As far as I know, Blackberry phones on enterprises can send jobs to HP printers wirelessly.
But also HP has a line of printers with an screen and their own user interface based on the TouchSmart line, as you might have probably read on the comments above.
So I actually believe they do want to put webOS itself into a printer, replacing to begin with their TouchSmart interface.
The key point of HP and Palm having their own OS is that the manufacturer controls both the software and the hardware, in an apple way.
So the only level of fragmentation is in pixi/pre ways or iphone/ipad ways, this means: screen resolution and hardware specifics (printing, phone, gps, etc).
Given probably all of those appliances can be conected to the cloud, we might expect OTA updates for all of them from a single source, so android-like fragmentation is not expectable at all; and we would get a little bit of more fragmentation than the current iphoneOS one based solely on the very different nature of every appliance.
Im happy this little user centric revolution that exploded mainly on iphoneOS and webOS devices extends to every little thing with an screen and a computer inside.
You might like "The Inmates Are Running the Asylum" if you are into that kind of things.