HP CEO Léo Apotheker comments on webOS at D conference: video and transcript
(image credit: AllthingsD)
Earlier today, Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg interviewed HP CEO Léo Apotheker at the 9th "D" conference in Los Angeles.
They covered a range of subjects, but one of the most interesting exchanges came during the audience Q&A portion, when former Engadget editor Joshua Topolsky pressed Léo for detail about what the future might hold for webOS.
"I happen to believe that webOS is a uniquely outstanding operating system. So there's no reason to believe that the only hardware that can run it is HP's," Leo said. "By the way, they don't have to be 'hardware makers' in the classical IT sense. There are many people who make all kinds of control devices, why wouldn't they want to use webOS for that? Appliance makers can use webOS to create connectivity between their appliances and the Web."
"There are all kinds of other people who want to make whatever device or piece of hardware they make connected to the Internet," he continued. "And therefore, we'd like to make webOS available to these people, as we are going to make webOS available to enterprises, or indeed to SMB's who want to create whatever kind of environment within their own firewall."
"So from that perspective, yes, webOS will be more than just running inside or on top of a particular piece of hardware that HP will make."
Watch the full exchange in the video below:
UPDATE 6/2/11: More video from an earlier part of the interview:
HP TouchPad tablet and smartphone event: quick reference guide
HP today announced the HP TouchPad tablet and two new smartphones (the Pre3 and Veer) at an event in San Francisco.
The event is the first major new device introduction from HP Palm since the acquisition closed in July 2010.
We’ll be updating this page all afternoon with images, video, links, product specifications, press releases, and more, as they come available.
You can also follow us on Twitter at @hpnews and @palm to stay updated.
Press releases and multimedia
“HP TouchPad Brings webOS to the Big Screen”
“HP Pre3 Introduces the New Look of Business for the 24-hour Life”
“HP Veer Packs Big Smartphone Experience into Powerfully Small Package”
Also:
Video of the event (1 hour 49 min) on YouTube
Product websites, with images and feature specifications
Palm blog post: "HP webOS: The next big thing -- and the next small thing, too!"
Top tweets from press and analysts covering the event
Jon Swartz, USA Today:
“HP has been at the vanguard of innovation. It was first, [HP EVP Todd] Bradley pointed out, to create the pocket calculator, portable PC, and inkjet printer” (tweet)
Crawford Del Prete, IDC:
At HP Palm event. Intention for webOS devices is to offer connectivity across devices in new ways. Agree. This is a way to differentiate. (tweet)
Michael Gartenberg, Gartner:
“Seamless flow of information to device/device, screen/screen, and location/location is a key to success” (tweet)
“Synergy was a key difference in #webos. Still the best integration IMHO. Let’s see what’s new” (tweet)
"Ubiquitous #Kindle app. Of course. #webOS" (tweet)
Katie Boehret, Wall Street Journal:
“Ruby holds
up HP Veer, smartphone that he says measures abt the size of a credit card.
Plays Flash, has 5MP camera, 8GB.” (tweet)
Ryan Block, GDGT:
“Just added HP TouchPad to my want list on @gdgt!” (tweet)
Ben Parr, Mashable:
"I want a TouchPad" (tweet)
Previous notes on mobility and webOS from Data Central
“The Biggest Tech Platform in History: HP mobility guru Jon Rubinstein on the future of wireless”
“Fragmentation in the mobile OS market: is it really a problem?”
