The old Palm Web OS software that Hewlett-Packard banked on to win share in the tablet market is set to re-emerge branded Gram.Internal employment advertising reveals that HP is recruiting staff for a new start up venture, which is set to develop the software as an alternative to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating systems, which will be difficult after Microsoft releases its Windows 8 touchscreen software later this year, said Josh Greenbaum an analyst at Enterprise Applications Consulting in Berkeley, California.
“We are no longer a consumer hardware brand, we are a different company with a focus on software, user experience, cloud, engineering and partnering,” Martin Risau, a senior vice president at Hewlett-Packard, wrote in a recent e-mail that was obtained by Bloomberg News.
Under Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard plans to run Gram as a wholly owned subsidiary, apart from the larger organization, to help spur innovation and revive demand for the kinds of products that once featured WebOS. The company discontinued smartphones and tablets running WebOS a year ago, under former CEO Leo Apotheker, and Whitman began offering the software code under an open-source license in December.
The company said at the time it would make WebOS available to device makers under a license that requires companies using it to contribute their changes back to the software product.
In his e-mail, Risau said Gram will include the operating system, Hewlett-Packard’s Enyo software development tools, and software for delivering programs via cloud computing over the Internet. The venture will operate in “stealth mode” to give it time to grow, he said.
