HP expanding webOS channel sales and enterprise support 12

If you happen to be a reseller of HP products (and let’s face it, you probably are), then you’re probably aware of HP’s PartnerONE program. If you’re that one guy (there’s always one) that’s not, here’s a quick overview: PartnerONE exists to help support HP’s United States channel partners (the people that actually sell HP products) with training, tools, and support.

What kind of support? HP sees a whole new set of opportunities for their channel partners with the introduction of webOS products like the Pre 3 and TouchPad, and that the integration between these devices (and in the future, other HP products like PCs and printers) will enable partners to think about other things, like how their customers can use these products while mobile. HP also expects some partners, specifically those that cater towards corporate IT solutions, to start creating webOS applications to support their own products and systems.

We’re not going to lie, HP can sometimes bog us down with so much corporate jargon that we have difficulty parsing it, but the gist is that HP is planning on marketing the TouchPad to more than just consumers: they’ve got the enterprise space square in their sights. Thankfully, HP's Stephen DeWitt (senior vice president of HP's Americas Solution Partners Organization, i.e. the guy in charge of helping people wo sell HP stuff do just that), doesn't speak in corpratese, and he sees a huge opportunity where Apple hasn't been pushing hard:

"Apple's relationship with partners is transactional, completely. Apple doesn’t have an inclusive philosophy of partner capabilities, and that's just absurd."

HP is forging ahead in mobility with channel partners, which typically hasn't been a big channel partner segment. Of course, that might be because most corporate channels don't source their stuff from companies that are big on mobility (Dell, IBM, HP...). That said, even with HP's push behind webOS, some channel partners are expressing reluctance. Customers aren't asking for webOS - they're asking for Android and iOS products, which makes HP's challenge that much greater. More and more consumer products are making their way into the corporate channel, and it seems that HP knows they're going to have their work cut out for them getting webOS into the corporate state of mind.