Hewlett Packard who earlier this year acquired the WebOS operating system via the acquisition of Palm is set to invest heavily in the tablet market which they claim will be worth $40 Billion dollar
In an interview with TechCrunch, HP executive and VP of the Personal Systems Group Todd Bradley revealed that the WebOS will play a key role in the development of tablets that can be used in home automation applications as well as a new range of Smartphones that will take on Google Android phones as well as the Apple iPhone.
He said that his division will focus on developing the webOS software for mobile devices, growing its app market and improving the interface. He said that HP’s aim is to provide a consistent webOS interface between smartphones and tablets.
Unlike Google, HP will not license webOS to other makers instead the Company will do an Apple and only develop for their own devices.
Bradley revealed that next year, Palm will sell 15 million printers that use WebOS. He says that while the smartphone category is growing, tablets are going to be a huge market. He estimates that in the next few years tablets will be a $40 billion market, he also said that the smartphone market is now worth over a $100 billion market.
He told TechCrunch that their strategy with webOS is not just the OS but it’s also about having a consistent interface from phones to tablets, says Bradley.
Bradley said that the WebOS platform is already growing and that there are 50 percent more apps using the mobile platform than before Palm was acquired. ‘We are aggressively pushing more SDKs, bringing developers onto WebOS platform, which is the second largest 3d gaming platforms.”
Asked if HP’s is trying to adopt Apple’s strategy Bradley said that HP is definitely not trying to emulate Apple or Dell. He said that their recent acquisition of data storage Company 3PAR will allow the Company to offer Cloud storage and applications from WebOS devices.
