HP thinking big: webOS on 'other' devices 75
We know that HP is hot-to-trot to get webOS up and running on a tablet/slate device and obviously webOS is going to continue to run on smartphones, but this article on Forbes has us thinking: is HP thinking bigger?
"Smartphones are a part of this, but this is really about the Web operating system," Shane Robison, HP's chief strategy and technology officer, told Forbes. "It's a change in our business model to a connected device model." HP, he said, is assuming a world in which almost everything needs at least the potential to connect to the Internet.
Long-time followers of mobility may remember that 3Com (former Palm owner and soon-to-be fellow HP-owned subsidiary) had just such a vision with the Audrey. It didn't work then (the dot-com bust didn't help) and in general the dream of every device in your house getting an internet connection has always been of the pipe-variety. Perhaps HP thinks that time is coming?
We're not arguing that webOS should be slapped on any old thing - but it does raise an interesting question for us: what, at its core, is webOS? If it's a great multitasking smartphone OS, well, then shoehorning it into other devices isn't going to work so well. But what if HP buys into Palm's argument that webOS is, at its core, the best way to take the web and modern, HTML5 standards and turn it into a touch-friendly operating system? If so, then HP could be making a play to make webOS the best way to put "the web" on devices.
It very similar to the ideas behind Google's Chrome OS, but the direction that Palm has already said they are taking with the future of webOS sounds much more robust than Chrome OS.
Toasters? Bad idea. But HP is definitely thinking outside the smartphone box:
In his call to analysts Wednesday, Bradley identified vertical markets like health care and education in which devices might soon appear, sold through HP's partners.
What do you think is the essence of webOS? Do you think that HP could help make it the de-facto way to get the web on internet-connected devices, supplanting Android and WinCE?
75 Comments
WebOS Toaster........ Sign me Up!
If you throw away a card does it..uhh..throw away your food?
And don't even think of overclocking that sucker - it'd most definitely make your toast a littttle too burnt
LOL - I can just see flicking through pictures of toast until you see one that represents the degree of "doneness" that you want!
Or maybe .... if you put in more bread slices than there are slots, you'll get a "too many slices" error? LOL
too many slices error...LOL nice!
Don't be silly. If you burn your toast, you swipe away the burn. Double-tap for butter. And if you try to toast three pieces, you get a TMB error.
Too many slices error! EPIC lol!
You Sir, win 1 internet for this XD
I made this comment on the RoundTable article earlier today; so was surprised not to see an HP Printer in the photo!
How about embedded WebOS?
Imagine one of those HP all-in-one printers with a larger LCD display that is a touchscreen running WebOS. A built-in quick and easy photo editing app for image manipulation (cropping, resizing, red-eye removal, overlaying funny graphics, etc). Swipe to get to the printer preferences, fax functionality, scanning functionality.
Own an hPre? Access the exact same app from your phone and print over WiFi direct to the printer
Oh Yes! I want WebOS on my Chumby! I keep trying to swipe screens on it lol. Everything seems handicapped that does not have WebOS!
And of course there is always the talking toaster...
We are in crazy times!
I really hope that HP doesn't forget its smartphone market. I really want a good smartphone to compete against the Evo on the 4g Network that Sprint provides...
=/
Evo is gonna look like a 1970's Texas Instruments calculator very quickly.
I don't know which is bigger, the EVO or the TI calculator.
Well the TI had a real keyboard and worked just fine away from 4G and EVDO regions. And in it's day, it was quite sexy, 30 years ago.
More the merrier.
It actually sounds good to me. I like the idea of WebOS being integrated into more devices other than just smartphones. It almost seems like a logical progression. Even if you call it thinking outside of the box its a good idea and like Jaco said sign me up (even for the WebOS Toaster).
Realk talk I'm happy fpr palm.. Webos will soon one day be the number 1 os in the world. Hp and palm is taking this to the next level.. Palm I love make shit happen I'm rooting for you.. Oo and by the way please hurry up on a new smartphone I don't wanna cheat and buy a Evo jus to be diapointed please don't make me cheat palm..
I think WebOS makes sense on mobile devices and maybe some kiosk devices (like the Sony Dash, the fridge, home controller system). For things that only need to run 1-2 applications, it gets iffy. It would be nice to have a seamless way of integrating the thermostat into our WebOS enabled house, but really, why does a thermostat need to run such a powerful OS?
Well, if you want to take this a huge level, 10 years down the road or more....
Your thermostat doesn't have full webOS running on it, but think of that one device as one 'app' or 'card' from webOS. If you are at that device it has a screen that would look like being inside an app on your Pre. Now, I have some kind of central hub (or tablet/slate if you want it mobile inside the house) which I can now see any and all devices in my house (like my thermostat) as individual cards. I can flip to my thermostat to adjust the temp before I go to sleep, flip to the card that controls my outside lighting because I want the front porch light on, since I will wake up earlier tomorrow then normal I flip to the card controlling my coffee maker to adjust what time it starts, then check my email real quick before I turn off the lights and go to sleep.
+1
A WebOS integrated house sounds amazing. With the WebOS tablet coming soon, that would make it possible to have it control your WebOS appliance via the Wi-fi. It would actually be very practical.
Now if all these could implement SIP and talk to each other, that would be awesome.....shall I point to you my research? =)
You guys are having WAY to much fun with Photoshop. :D
First Android, then Meego, now WebOS. The fight for world domination is going to turn into a fierce War.
And those all run on top of Linux.
First thing I can imagine is a webOS HP printer, where you can easily set up to print from a phone or computer.
Or, plugin your memory card or USB, use the touchscreen to print.
And biggest dream of all: build in a good pdf reader, download and print pdf files directly on the printer.
A web-connected pdf printer would be hot in academics, libraries, and many offices, if priced right.
Printer with Synergy?!?!?!?
It would be wireless, ofc, and get everything through synergy!
I want to see webos running on a navigation system in my car, with a mobile hotspot connection with my phone i can use google maps or verizon/sprint navigator with traffic and such while getting notifications of email and text messages, etc. etc. all without having to pull out my phone. Or i am at work/home and we are deciding where to go eat and i look something up using where and it automatically loads into the navigation in my car all using basically the same interface. Meanwhile, my phone could turn into a virtual keyboard for my car navigation, or for my tv at home(running webos)where i watch hulu and rent movie from youtube, man the possibilities are endless.
won't need a keyboard bc it will be voice command.
I have really wanted webos to be on other devices even a main os for my pc I often find my self usng the pc and trying to do universal search then realizing I'm on the pc not my pre. The possibilites are really endless and hp already has the smarts for it I remember a few years back when hp came out with the first flat screen hd tv that was connected to everything in your house by use of the network. But it was before it's time I haven't seen a recent model but now all other manufacturers are doing it years after they did it first. Unless apple comes out with a new os soon they will be goners...
It's as plain as the nose on everyone's face that web integration is the future of, well, pretty much everything.
There are two questions that need to be asked here: does WebOS have the capability to be the os that gets spread to all those devices/appliances (it's possible that we still haven't witnessed the invention of said os yet), and if so, does HP/Palm have the cojones to grab the bull by the horns and run with it?
I'm hoping the answer to both those questions is yes.
One day it might be just Apple and OSX and HP and WebOS running everything.
Um, thought is really doubtful. For one, Microsoft isn't going to disappear. And two, neither is Linux (which you conveniently neglected). And three, WebOS is based on Linux.
The near and mid future will still be the same three players: MS-Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
I think we're at the dawn of a further distinction for technology: Hardware, O/S and Interface. Software concepts will be cleanly split into two disciplines, similar to early windows faceplating DOS.
I love the idea... Put it in my TV. Then I could browse the web from my couch and open up a tv card and music card.... Oh.. The possibilities!
Holy shit I had an Audrey. It sucked and didnt have an input for ethernet...which is all I had at the time. It is sitting around at my parent's house somewhere.
I love the idea... Put it in my TV. Then I could browse the web from my couch and open up a tv card and music card.... Oh.. The possibilities!
As a tablet pc user (the kind with a keyboard and writable screen), I'm told the only two areas where they have really taken off are in medicine and inventory. In both cases, you can have forms on-line that you use a pen device to enter info into and they immediately update the database. You can walk around with the tablet like a clipboard - and yes, it's just like Star Trek.
Webos is a natural for that because it would be simpler to implement than in Windows (trust me, I know) and because HP has some really nice new touchscreens.
Think - you walk into the drs office, fill out that 'medical update form' on a tablet, nurse/dr enters notes while talking to you, hit button and it checks out medications and goes to pharmacy. The notes part works like that now in integrated practices (like Cleveland Clinic) but they are tried to a desk. There's no reason they have to be.
In academics - my field - we do a lot of cloud based submissions and grading that are now notebook/desktop based but could also be intergrated in cloud with WebOS - especially if we were able to access GoogleDocs. In class today, I had 35 students share a GoogleDoc spreadsheet, groups wrote items for a questionnaire. Then we all completed it and I will download it and analyze it for class Monday. Everyone could see everyone's simultaneous edits. It was actually pretty cool. Could this be webos? Sure. Could I do it on my phone - YES! - if Google Docs were more flexible in how they worked with with WebOS.
People now also use those 'clickers' ($35 multiple response devices for everyone answering a question and having the responses go directly to the screen in a big class. A webos clicker and projector could be a real asset.
Love the shot out to the Cleveland Clinic.....
I'll take that fridge. Right now we have a dry erase calendar magnetted to the door of the fridge for our daily calendar.
I wonder if webOS can power up my new Iron Man suit. I'll have to contact Stark Labs on this one.
fridge would be cool. hook it up to shopping app on your phone, you drive near grocery store, phone alerts you to go buy the things you need.
haha would have to have some sort of barcode scanner that didn't require any real effort by the user in other words I don't have to physically scan everything into my fridge for it to be noticed but the fridges scanners pick it up without me doing it.
Close! Everyone is ordrring more & more online... yes, even food! Imagine a fridge that holds your shopping list, and at a preset criteria which automatically orders your food/supplies, which are delivered to your door. This is the direction we're moving...
If you look at the world through the handset eyes you begin to miss some of the possibilities around you. Try to consider the handset as a connected device that in the future will be doing voice via VOIP without the need for cell minutes. Then look at all of the devices in you house - phones, printers, TV's, radios, gaming consoles, home security system, HVAC system, irrigation system, etc. What about your car - radio, entertainment system, nav system, etc. Now consider them in relation to an always on network at broadband speeds. That essentially is what WiMax and LTE are all about. Only the LTE folks (AT&T and Verizon at least) have an interest in keeping you from cutting the wire. Now think about what these devices need in order to work on that bigger network - OS & wireless chip. HP is correct to look at the world this way because that is truly what's next - same devices only networked. One last thought. With webOS draw a line backwards from these devices to their source and you have a chain of commerce which all needs hardware, software, data, networking and computing power. Which brand out there offers all of this in addition to data centers and services which these businesses can outsource?
I love the idea... Put it in my TV. Then I could browse the web from my couch and open up a tv card and music card.... Oh.. The possibilities!
I love the idea... Put it in my TV. Then I could browse the web from my couch and open up a tv card and music card.... Oh.. The possibilities!
does it have to be touch friendly?
...thinking minority report style computing with hand gestures.
So this means I no longer have to worry about dropping my pre into the toilet, because toilet IS my phone, right?
put WebOS in my blender.. Touch screen a Margarita and out it comes.....
But will it blend?
The toaster made me laugh. But it WOULD be awesome if you could see what your toast looked like on the screen, then when it's at the desired toastiness, just toss the card and your toast pops out .haha
Isn't that a Cisco phone?
I love the idea... Put it in my TV. Then I could browse the web from my couch and open up a tv card and music card.... Oh.. The possibilities!
I want a 5" slate that runs my DVR/Tivo Media Center. The entire enterface is on the tablet initially, not the tv/projector. You have the choice to mirror it to a screen, or toss the card to the other device. I want to run it with my finger not a remote.
Give it a Homebrewable universal remote interface.
Let me add a javascript widget to control my home automation so I can build buttons that dim the lights exactly to my specifications. I could even set myself a time limit. The lights would come back up and a notification would remind me it is time for bed, or an appointment...
Interestingly, Audrey ran on the QNX OS, and QNX was just purchased by.... RIM.
I see another potentially huge player in this market, and it isn't Apple...
i think all of this is a positive and bodes well for the future. that said, i hope webOS doesn't morph into bloatware as a result of overly ambitious marketing pushes to be "everything to everybody". hopefully they'll drive toward something like a sensible, extensible webOS plug-in model that keeps a rock-solid webOS core. then you can have your plug-ins for your appliances, smart house, etc. (oh yeah, your phone too :).
Put it in my desk phone, and the caller ID and contacts will be a lot better.
Put it in my alarm clock, and the UI, sound and options for an audio source could be much improved.
Put it in my kitchen, and it could be really useful for recipes or looking up a quick bit of information.
Obviously cost and performance requirements are key, but I don't see why it couldn't work fine outside of a laptop/slate/smartphone.
Lol the toaster made me laugh!
My favorite graphic is the toaster. Everyone needs Pandora and corporate email/calendar support while they're waiting for their Pop Tarts.
with such a diverse group of products, the idea of android comes to mind, and more specifically how it's fragmented. android is released in all its versions on all the diff devices it's on.
if they plan to release webos on all these diff devices, would it get fragmented as well?
PS> i'd love to tilt the toaster when i'm playing need for speed undercover on it :)
I think it would be neat if you could swipe the 'card' to another device that has WebOS. Such as, you have a shopping list from the fridge and swipe within that application OR the card itself to your mobile device that has WebOS. :)
oh that would be even better than what i thought...
and if my shopping manager is checked out with those tacos and hot sauce my webos media center knows to play my favorite latino tunes after coming home...
>"but it does raise an interesting question for us:
>what, at its core, is webOS?"
That is simple. Linux
I'd sure love to see everybody (including apple) clammering to catch up to HP/Palm's WebOs! Poetic Justice.
WebOs toaster, H3ll yeah!
ok I can not resist:
Yes I want new smartphone and webos 2 or pre 2 but we all want a webos tv remote, right? how cool would it be to slide thru an on remote channel guide?
Anyway I am very excited about future prospects with HP backing.
Regards
What about something similar to Microsoft's Surface? http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx Becasues I would DEFINATELY be interested in a WebOS coffee table!!! seriously.
Man HP is making a lot of news with webOS. I would definitely be interested in a slick webOS tablet. I just hope they don't lose focus and forget about the true origin of the OS and end up not giving enough support to Palm to make a really robust webOS handset to compete with the iPhone 4G, HTC Evo and all those other phones coming out later in the year.
I too am giggy when I imagine a webOS world. But one nagging principle keeps poking it's head into my dream...
if HP is gonna make such a world a reality, they may have to change the Open phillosophy (at least a little, maybe alot) if they are to feel confident that the system is funimentally secure on so many levels. Now, I say this as someone who knows not the first thing about programming... But I just can't shake the thougt
I too am giddy when I imagine a webOS world. But one nagging principle keeps poking it's head into my dream...
if HP is gonna make such a world a reality, they may have to change the Open phillosophy (at least a little, maybe alot) if they are to feel confident that the system is funimentally secure on so many levels. Now, I say this as someone who knows not the first thing about programming... But I just can't shake the thougt
webOS Toilets, webOS furniture, webOS boxers.... the list goes on and on!
I want desktop webos, I keep trying to universal search on windows because I like it so much... That's what we really need
i just found this. i think this is where HP is headed and why they are so interested in webOS. it fits with their plans of wireless sensor technologies that communicate via the web...
http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/2009/oct-dec/cense.html
Now if HP can just get the Calendar to respond in under 10 minutes......
I expect all my WebOS devices, from my tosater to my toilet to my tv to be fully integrated!