Living up to a prediction many of us made when HP acquired Palm last April, the company has introduced a tablet computer and two smartphones based on the WebOS developed by Palm. With these introductions, HP is reentering a mobile device marketplace that is even more crowded and more competitive than what we had last year. However, HP might be pursuing a different track in the smartphone market and one that is aimed primarily at the enterprise.
In May 2009, HP and Microsoft announced a four-year, $180 million global initiative to work together to deliver integrated unified communications (UC) and collaboration solutions. That combination of HP’s solid infrastructure products and massive professional services business with Microsoft’s Lync UC solution could be a killer combination, but how does webOS fit in? Or Microsoft’s own Phone 7 operating system for that matter?
The new products include the 9.7-inch TouchPad tablet (click here for larger image) that features a 1024x768 resolution touchscreen (same as the iPad), Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU 1.2-GHz processor and 16 or 32GB storage. When released late this summer, the device will features Wi-Fi communications with 3G/4G models to follow later. The HP Synergy feature will allow for syncing contacts and messages across social networking and mail accounts.
While the tablet had been expected, the real surprise was two new webOS smartphones. The business-focused HP Pre3 (click here for larger image) has a 3.58-inch touchscreen, 1.4-GHz processor and slide-out keyboard. The phone supports encrypted data and business mail, VPNs, integrated SMS and instant messaging, video calling with a 1.3MP camera, multi-tasking, 8 or 16GB storage and Wi-Fi sharing. One nifty feature is the ability to share and pair content between webOS phone and the TouchPad, simply by tapping the phone on the tablet.
Inexplicably, HP is also introducing a phone for the consumer market. The HP Veer (click here for larger image) is "the size of a credit card", with a 2.57-inch touchscreen, slide-out keyboard and 800 MHz processor. It comes with Wi-Fi sharing, GPS, multimedia player, 8GB storage and a 5-megapixel camera. The Veer will launch first in the spring, followed by the Pre in the summer and the TouchPad later in the summer.
As we have all come to learn, consumer mobile devices live or die based on the "apps", and HP announced an expansion of its webOS app store, including an Amazon Kindle app for the TouchPad. Even when these mobile device manufacturers announce an "enterprise device", they can't help but slide into consumer apps.
The announcement couldn't have come at a better time for us. Arthur Filip, HP’s Vice President and General Manager for Technology Services Consulting, Enterprise Businesses will be giving one of the keynotes at Enterprise Connect in Orlando next month. At that time we should get a petty good look at what HP is planning for the UC space, and where these mobile devices fit into that vision. We'll keep you posted.
