In its press release announcing the open sourcing of webOS, HP said all the right things. It will continue to invest and be an active participant. It will provide inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation. It will be purely open source. Those almost seems to be conflicting statements. HP may think that it is trying to create a new Android ecosystem, but HP and Google's approaches to mobile are going in opposite directions.

So, HP is now distancing itself from webOS under the guise of making it open source. It presumably could not find a company willing to buy the platform so now it is taking the only avenue that is available. HP now has very little way to make money off of webOS. As a licensed open source project, it is not going to be able to sell licenses to the platform, the way Microsoft does with Windows Phone. Nor does it have Google's clout in the advertising world to monetize webOS the way Android does. HP must pin its hope on the notion that developers, OEMs and carriers will pay HP for its software and cloud services in the development of webOS applications.

Herein lays the problem. As an open source project, developers will be able to choose whatever cloud and development tools they want. The fact that webOS is so closely tied to the Web does not help either because there are a variety of solutions to make HTML5 Web apps outside of HP. From the startup realm with companies like appMobi, Sencha, Appcelerator to enterprise developer companies like IBM and SAP, HP has no way to tie the development process to itself in an open source environment. Google has accepted this fact and lets the Android ecosystem do as it pleases because as long as people have Android devices in their hands, Google stands to make money from when and how they use the Web and native apps on the device.

Android may be open source, but Google ties itself very closely to how and when it can be used by OEMs and carriers. Throughout 2011, Google has moved to bind Android more closely to it, such as the fact that the Honeycomb version 3.0 was never made available to the public. This is where Google differs from HP. Google is tying Android closer to its home base. HP, out of necessity, has to push webOS away.

That may be a bad thing for HP, but it is not necessarily a bad consequence for the mobile ecosystem. By pushing webOS away, HP all of a sudden gives the mobile ecosystem an instantly viable platform to build off. This is not some half-baked project like MeeGo or Tizen. Palm and webOS have the code base to produce high quality smartphones now. Look for Samsung, HTC, LG and other OEMs to all of a sudden become very interested in what they can do with webOS.

I woke up on Sunday and started fussing about the apartment. Made a cup of tea, cleaned the kitchen, turned on the Roku and sat down on my couch with my iPad to check the news.

That is when I saw that HP had turned the TouchPad into a fire sale.

Tablets priced at $99 flying off the shelves and what had been a significant headline on Tuesday (Best Buy has 250,000 unsold TouchPads) had completely turned around on Sunday (Good Luck Finding a $99 TouchPad). It got me to thinking. As much as consumers love their Apple products and the iPad is a terrific device, consumers want something that is price efficient, even if it is a touch flawed. With literally hundreds of thousands of TouchPads sold over the weekend, a significant note should be playing in retailers' and manufacturers' heads - opportunities await for those willing to make a sacrifice.

In the tablet market, nothing but the iPad is selling well. HP spending near $100 million to liquidate the TouchPad and the $99 price point is a reflection of that. HP is taking a loss on the whole webOS division as it mulls the options to spin off its intellectual property (patent sales), license it to OEMs or integrate it into its enterprise software business. Good chance we will see HP do a bit of all three.

As an aside, many in the tech punditry game are saying "the TouchPad is not even worth $99, do not even consider buying one." Forbes had a short post with the tired refrain "it is all about the apps, and webOS does not have them." To a certain extent, this is true. Apps make the device. Yet, that does not take into account the tectonic shifts happening under the device market. HTML5 is coming. It is going to make browser-based mobile applications viable and through a series of discussions with developers in the past several weeks, I discovered there are a lot of HTML5 Web apps coming. The better the mobile browser, the better the HTML5 will function. The great thing about webOS is that it may be in perfect position to run these Web apps because its browser and integrated system (webOS was designed for the mobile Web, not apps) because it has the best browser of the bunch between iOS, Safari, Android, Windows Phone IE and BlackBerry. So, come the wave of apps from Facebook's so-called "Project Spartan" or other concurrent initiatives and the TouchPad may look like a terrific option.

Motorola, Samsung, HTC and Research In Motion are seeing tepid tablet sales. Samsung should eventually gain traction (as long as they are not significantly blocked by Apple) with its flood-the-market strategy of three different tablet sizes and partnerships with all the major carriers. Yet, at the current prices ($499 for a BlackBerry PlayBook or a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1), they are not going make a dent. For any of those companies to start selling mass amounts of slate, they are going to have to pull an HP and liquidate stock for the sake of temporary market share bump. HP is a huge business with its fingers in a lot of pies. It is taking its fingers out of the OEM pie and putting them elsewhere. A company like RIM or HTC cannot do that. They are what they are and have to try and survive within the existing mobile market. They are going to struggle to compete until they have to sell off existing stockpiles of devices or create a new killer product.

Joe Wilcox from Betanews argues that the $99 price and subsequent fire sale of TouchPads ruins the tablet pricing market. Consumers should not come to expect the $99 price point. It is unrealistic and HP is spending a huge amount of money to get rid of the TouchPads. Yet, eyes should pop that a tablet that is being put to pasture just sold several hundred thousand units. A quality tablet with a great price from a known brand will sell well.

There is another company that knows this well.

Amazon.

The original Kindle debuted in 2007. It was less than $300 $400 and it sold out in a matter of hours. Amazon will be the last major entrant into the tablet wars (presumably) with a device coming probably before the holiday season. The question is this: can Amazon recreate the Kindle furor by introducing a tablet into the market at $200 or less?

There is not an "iPad killer" device in any OEMs hopper. Nor will there be anytime soon. The great equalizer will be price. Amazon and to a certain extent Microsoft (with Windows 8) have actually benefited from waiting to enter the tablet wars. They now see the battlefield in front of them and what it will take to make an impact. Quality devices with reasonable prices. Then turn and make money through value-added services.

HP was unwilling to do this. Most will agree that pulling the plug on its webOS hardware division was a bit premature. But, it taught the market a lesson. In the end, that lesson will be of significant value to consumers.

The promising mobile operating system is said to have run twice as fast when loaded onto Apple's iPad 2 tablet compared to when it was running on the TouchPad hardware on which it was sold to consumers, according to The Next Web. WebOS reportedly ran considerably better in the iPad's Web browser than it did natively on the TouchPad.

The TouchPad devices, which have not sold very well, were apparently maligned by some members of the webOS team who "wanted them gone," according to the report. The potential of the OS itself was allegedly hampered by the limitations of the hardware, which limited the degree to which the team could innovate.

"In its current implementation and form factor, webOS is not delivering as stellar a performance as we would have liked," wrote Sarah Perez in her review last month. "The hardware is heavy and dated, especially in comparison with the iPad 2, the app ecosystem isn't large enough and the browser not functional enough to serve as a Web app platform."

Retailers like Best Buy reportedly have had a very hard time selling the TouchPad, which has been repeatedly discounted. Any speculation about what may come of the tablet in the future ground to a halt this week when HP announced they were getting out of the mobile hardware business all together.

As they say, another one bites the dust. Or does it?

HP is getting out of the mobile hardware business. This comes a week after Nokia said that it would discontinue Symbian phones in the U.S. In reality this does not change the U.S. (or global) mobile ecosystem at all. WebOS had almost no market share despite the fact that it is a well-made operating system from a once popular mobile vendor. Palm could not support it and HP cannot market it. News surfaced yesterday that Best Buy has 250,000 HP TouchPads (the tablet based on webOS) sitting in stock that it cannot get rid of. Yet, what exactly does it mean for HP to "continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward"?

HP wants (or wanted) to put webOS on to computers. In theory, this was to help support the mobile hardware division. Yet, the real play for HP with webOS is in cloud functionality. Just because HP is not making hardware anymore does not mean that they are just going to throw away their billion-dollar investment. HP can support webOS in the same way that Google supports Android - as a platform provider and application evangelist. Freeing the hardware from HP means that webOS will probably be offered as a licensed operating system to any original equipment manufacturers.

So, the idea is that by giving up webOS, we will theoretically be able to see more of webOS on actual devices if HP licenses it to the likes of HTC, Samsung, LG and others (and they decide to actually produce viable handsets). Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies has been calling for HP to license webOS and get out of the mobile hardware business all summer. It looks like he might get his wish.

With the Motorola/Google partnership (and the impact that could have on the Android ecosystem) and the dismal sales of the TouchPad, this is precisely the move that HP should be making at precisely the right time.

HP's decision to get out of the hardware business (which looks like it could include PCs as well) would be a significant evolution for the company. It can license webOS and help create an ecosystem around it while providing cloud support, infrastructure and software. As one ReadWriteWeb staffer put it, "Looks like (CEO Leo) Apotheker is making HP into SAP II." SAP is a software and infrastructure supplier to the enterprise and does quite well. HP has more resources than SAP and it has one big chip in webOS, if it ever figures out what it really wants to do with it.

HP bought Palm and WebOS for $1.2 billion last year. Since then it has floundered in HP developer purgatory and then released to a couple handsets and the HP TouchPad, a tablet of mediocre quality. That does not mean that WebOS is a dud. Palm had an operating system of equal (and in many ways superior) quality to both iOS and Android. It lacked marketing power and the ability to get developers on board to create a vibrant application ecosystem. This has not changed under HP. Yet, with Android OEMs now casting a wary eye on Google/Motorola (which I shall refer to as MotoGoo) and HP realizing that it has absolutely no market clout with WebOS, there may be an opportunity to resurrect one of the original smartphone operating systems.

Google Acquires Motorola, Android Ecosystem Shudders

Analysts: Android Development in a Less Open World After Google + Motorola

Google: Buying Motorola is "Pro-Competitive" [Transcript]

How Could This Work?

The first thing that would need to happen to create an opening for WebOS is that Google would have to anger its OEM partners. HTC, Samsung and LG are the primary Android licensees (of which Motorola and Sony Ericsson are a few steps behind). This could easily happen. What if Samsung, which is notoriously slow in rolling out new Android updates, does not release the next version of Android to the Nexus S in a timely fashion (to note, over-the-air updates have as much to do with the carriers as the OEM)? Developers rely on the Nexus flagship as the developers' build and it is important that those devices have the newest version of Android widely available as soon as possible. Yet, Samsung toddles and Google tells its Motorola division to show them how it is done, releasing an OTA update to its signature Droid device.

That could easily happen. In which case, the value of the Nexus series as the flagship and signature Android device loses its place as the de facto Android phone to the Droid. Even if that is just temporary, that is a shot against the OEM that paid for the right to be the Nexus provider. There are a thousand similar scenarios where MotoGoo could say "Motorola, show them how its done." Next thing that the OEM knows is that its return on investment in Android has become negligible compared to the licensing fees it could pay to Microsoft for Windows Phone.

On the other end, HP would have to more or less give up its claim to making commercially "popular" WebOS devices and get into the licensing business. HP could create a signature device or two every year to work as the developers' build but the bulk of the heavy lifting would be done by the OEMs.

HP has toyed with the idea of licensing WebOS, but it has not come out and said that it will do so.

"It is certainly something we would entertain," HP CEO LEO Apotheker told AllThingsD in June.

There are some analysts, such as Ben Bajarin from Creative Strategies, who have been shouting for HP to license WebOS to take advantage of Android's vulnerabilities for months.

How Does This Benefit HP & The OEMs?

HTC and Samsung are already paying for various aspects of Android. The kernel and code are free but there are certain patents where the OEMs have to pay off Microsoft for the right to use them. Microsoft is probably making more money off of Android licenses then it is with Windows Phone 7. So, obtaining licenses for other operating systems does not seem to be too much of a stretch. The OEMs could free themselves of Android dependence and the potential tyranny that could come with a MotoGoo monopoly on Android.

On HP's side, the benefit is in the cloud and value-added services in addition to revenue made from licenses. HP is trying to bring the mobile OS closer to the PC OS and will be releasing WebOS to its PCs along with Windows next year. There is nothing stopping HP from still doing this if it licenses WebOS for smartphones. The marketing writes itself - "the smartphone that will work seamlessly with your computer, no matter where you are (unless, of course, you use a Mac)."

The value for HP is that WebOS would and the ecosystem would still lives in its cloud. The company can focus on its primary goals of cloud, PC and enterprise while getting rid of the headache and expense of actually making the devices that make the entire ecosystem stand up.

This Is All Good In Theory ...

Yet, the deciding factor is not MotoGoo, the OEMS, HP, WebOS or any other entity.

It is about consumers.

Votes come with wallets and right now wallets are opened to Android and Apple and closed to pretty much everyone else. Windows Phone has had a big marketing campaign and still controls next to none of the market. WebOS has been relegated to "other" status in Gartner's Q2 mobile market share research and is being significantly outsold by Bada, Samsung's home brew OS.

Then there are apps. Android and iOS have a lot of them and a lot of motivated developers. WebOS has virtually none. In fact, this reporter has never once been pitched a WebOS app from a developer. In the multitudes of pitches that the ReadWriteWeb team receives every day, that is a mild surprise.

So, while it is interesting to speculate what HP could do and what the OEMs might want to do, the consumer is the tyrant that rules them all. Let us know in the comments if you would buy a WebOS phone made by HTC or Samsung. If Android is caves from inside because of the MotoGoo deal or is destroyed by patent lawsuits in court, where would you turn for your next smartphone?

But everything that's great about webOS comes in a heavy, chunky, plastic-y and cheap feeling TouchPad. It's a disappointing experience that detracts from the great features of the operating system. And this is only one of the problems with the tablet - it also has issues with its Web browser, Flash, a still paltry app catalog and more.

To be fair, the TouchPad is only a bit heavier than the original iPad (1.6 lbs vs. 1.5 for the iPad), but it's much heavier than the iPad 2 (1.33 lbs). At 13.7 mm thick, it feels larger, heavier, and clunkier. And it is. The Motorola Xoom is a more apt comparison for the TouchPad (12.7 mm), while the thickness (or rather, the thinness) of the iPad 2 is 8.8 mm.

The problem with the TouchPad is that it was clearly positioned to compete with the iPad in its design - which it does, of course - but Apple had moved on to the iPad 2 before the TouchPad came to market. HP's TouchPad, at launch, already feels out of date.

Size, weight and thickness are important factors when considering a tablet - even small improvements in this area lead to big jumps in terms of portability. As for the TouchPad, the overall feel is one of "computer without keyboard" or "better than a netbook," not "cool, thin tablet."

As for its other specs, the TouchPad is a better competitor when compared with both the Xoom and iPad, offering 1 GB RAM, 16 or 32 GB of storage, a 1.3 megapixel camera, 1024x768 resolution and 1.2 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. (Comparisons to other tablets are here).

But at the end of the day, the TouchPad fails on two key fronts: apps and, as noted above, portability. WebOS is lovely, but it's not enough.

WebOS: Lots to Like

There are those out there who will prefer the TouchPad simply because it runs webOS. Created by Palm, now owned by HP, webOS is an attractive and functional alternative to Apple's iOS and Google's Android. It's a bit more complex than Apple's operating system, but not as geeky and technical as Android sometimes feels.

There are some very specific things that webOS does differently, and does well:

• Cards: Possibly the most notable feature of webOS, "card stacks" are how the operating system handles app switching. As you're multitasking, groups of open applications are stacked together as cards (think: deck of playing cards). You can easily switch between these groups by swiping left or right on the homescreen. You can also shuffle the cards around in any stack, and, when finished, drag a card off the top of the screen to close the application.
• System-wide notifications: The OS updates you on things like new emails, social networking updates, events and more. For true webOS fans, the tablet pairs with a Palm Pre, allowing you to also receive your SMS and MMS messages on the TouchPad. Notifications are less obtrusive than they are on the current version of iOS, by appearing on the top-right of the screen, not as pop-ups in the middle. However, this feature probably seemed more innovative prior to Apple's reveal of the soon-to-launch iOS 5, which brings with it a new notifications center that mimics the one in Android, and essentially ends the complaints about iOS's disruptive notifications.
• Just Type: WebOS's universal search features lets you search your device, the Web or perform common actions like starting an email, adding a calendar appointment, updating your Facebook status, and more.
• Synergy: This webOS feature pulls in your contacts, calendars, emails and photos from multiple services (Google, Exchange, MobileMe, Yahoo, Facebook, etc.), which makes the TouchPad function as a centralized hub for many of the services you want to use.

I would add the "Touch to Share" (content moving) feature to this list, too, as it's certainly unique to the webOS experience, but it requires users to also have an HP Palm Pre. That's not most people. For webOS fans buying into the whole ecosystem, it's great, but it's not a selling point for the average person debating a tablet purchase.

There are dozens of other good to great features in webOS, too, including its resizable keyboard with a number row at the top (thank you!), built in Skype support, curated app discovery service "Pivot" (a magazine style tool for finding apps), built-in printing support (for HP printers, of course), an included copy of QuickOffice, decent mapping via Bing, a music player called HP Play offering iTunes playlists and library import, and more.

Apps, Apps...Apps?

There are several popular, well-known apps for the TouchPad, too, including Facebook, Bing Maps, Kindle, Skype, YouTube, QuickOffice, Angry Birds, TIME, USA Today, Weatherbug and others. Spaz HD is available to serve as a Twitter client.

But the TouchPad has only 300 native tablet apps at launch in addition to around 6,200 non-optimized apps designed for phones. What this means is that you won't serendipitously discover those special apps like you'll find on iPad, whether something like the iPad-only Flipboard social magazine, or the Apple-only iMovie and GarageBand. Nor will you find deeply integrated Google experiences, like Android users have with apps for Gmail, Docs and other Google applications and services.

Browser

The shortage of apps wouldn't matter as much if the Web browser lived up to its claims. Recently, Sencha reviewed the HTML5 performance on the TouchPad and found it lacking, unfortunately. (You can read more on that here). This is disappointing for the Web developer community who had hoped that HP's implementation of WebKit would mean an app platform built on standard Web technologies like HTML5 and CSS3.

In addition, the included Flash support didn't work as well as one would hope (if you sit around hoping for things like Flash, instead of purposely avoiding it by purchasing Apple devices). Some sites take too long to load, others don't load properly at all, and Flash performance is often choppy and stuttering. You can choose to disable Flash, at least.

Conclusion

Although this is far from being a comprehensive review of everything TouchPad (check your favorite gadget blog for that), we found webOS to be a promising mobile operating system with several unique features. However, in its current implementation and form factor, webOS is not delivering as stellar a performance as we would have liked. The hardware is heavy and dated, especially in comparison with the iPad 2, the app ecosystem isn't large enough and the browser not functional enough to serve as a Web app platform. While webOS makes for a compelling alternative to the iPad alternatives, it's not a compelling alternative to the iPad itself.

In a comprehensive review, PreCentral has examined every aspect of the new software, noting updates to core apps like the Web browser, email client, maps and others. Most notably, HP has ditched Google Maps in this version, and is now using Microsoft's Bing Maps instead.

• Launcher: An arrow/home button on the bottom right brings up a new tabbed launcher with tabs labeled "All" and "Favorites."
• Rearranging apps: press and hold now launches an "edit mode" where apps can be moved, deleted, or removed from a customized launcher page. Press "done" to complete the process.
• Just Type: webOS's universal search feature is now tabbed, like the launcher, and muted gray in appearance. Recent searches and the virtual keyboard appear when you tap the search bar.
• Virtual Keyboard: Text Predication has been added, not just to help you complete words (as with Text Assist introduced in webOS 2.0), but to predict what word you'll type next.
• Notifications: Notifications are now at the top of the screen, next to the device menu. If you receive more than one notification from the same app, you can swipe through them and drill down into the message you're interested in. This doesn't delete or mark as "read" the other notifications you swiped through while doing so.
• Browser: Now called "Browser" not "Web," the new browser has removed the grid of bookmark icons and replaced it with a Bookmarks/History button that slides out a panel with Bookmarks, History and Downloads buttons at the top. A bar at the bottom shows the progress of a loading webpage and disappears when the loading is complete. The navigation bar does not disappear as you scroll down on a webpage.
• Calendar: Now redesigned, the app shows your current calendar in the middle of the screen, with buttons for creating events, switching views, etc. at the bottom. Buttons at the top let you switch to other calendars. The design is new, but everything else here works the same as before.
• Contacts: No changes here besides slight tweaks to the lettering style.
• Email: Similar to email on the iPad, the folder list disappears in Portrait view, but is present in Landscape view. Buttons at the bottom lets you compose, refresh and now, mass edit (meaning select multiple messages at once to add flags, delete, move, etc.)
• Exhibition: The screen saver-like mode is now bigger, and more stretched out. Time, Agenda and Photo options are available, but only Time was functioning. Both an analog and flip clock are offered.
• Maps: The biggest update to webOS 3.0 is a switch from Google Maps to Bing. The new interface offers a search bar at the top, which also provides access to recent searches and favorites, a Directions mode, Suggested Searches (when it doesn't understand your query), and more. You can drag and drop pins, turn on or off GPS, and switch between road, aerial and Bird's Eye (3D) views.
• Memos: Cork pad and push pins are gone and memos are larger. You now press "edit" to move notes around, instead of press and hold.
• Messaging: Now two-paned, but functionality remains essentially the same.
• Music: The app has been overhauled, offering a two-paned view, with songs on the right and sort/filtering options on the left, plus a cover flow-like view of music, and a notification area mini-player with access to controls.
• Photos & Videos: The two apps are now one, and integrate device pictures with those from Facebook. Album, filmstrip and fullscreen views are available. Facebook comments are shown, too.

HP held a big press event in San Francisco yesterday but not to show off a tablet, a phone, or a printer.  The company wanted to show the world its vision of the future.  HP is betting that in the future, the "cloud" isn't a destination, it's a medium, wires and jacks are outdated and the next step is seamless integration of all our devices.

The big story yesterday was that this vision has HP positioning itself as a direct competitor to Google's Chrome OS.

And then, at the end of all that friendly touching, HP dropped the real bomb - WebOS, its mobile operating system, would be coming out on its PCs as well. Suddenly, HP is offering an entire, synergetic ecosystem that communicates both through proximity and the cloud.

What Was That About Google?

Google has been on a similar path pushing users to the cloud. There are Chrome Web apps, the Chrome OS, and the prototype CR-48 that runs it. In Google's vision, the OS disappears into the browser. It's the all-in movement to the cloud, with "programs" giving way to "Web apps" and the idea of "hard drives" disappearing all together. Gmail talks with Google Docs which talks with Google Calendar, and so on. Google has managed to create a device-agnostic, cloud-based ecosystem that weans the user of local data storage and desktops, bringing them fully into the fold.

Android devices can sync wirelessly - something we're still waiting for with Apple - but HP stepped up the game. Surely, the vision is there but we haven't fully seen it yet.

Surely, Apple Sees the Cloud

Apple offers a similar vision of the cloud, but it is still burdened by fraying sync cords and lost power plugs. (Did you know that that little cube USB adapter plug costs $30?) Apple has for-pay file sync services like MobileMe and still has not given its users the much-requested wireless syncing feature. Both Android and WebOS both boast the ability to sync your music library without a cord.

With Apple, this sort of synergy is a long-standing promise that hasn't come even close to being fulfilled. When I hold my iPhone up to my iPad, what happens? That's right - nothing.

Where HP Takes It One Step Further

At the end of the event, as we mentioned earlier, HP announced that it would be releasing PCs and laptops with WebOS. Two things are immediately obvious. First, whoah, there's potentially a new OS on the block. Second, if we take what we saw with phones and tablets seamlessly communicating using bluetooth, we can expect that the same would be true for WebOS-based computers.The PC will become another member of HP's "seamless integration." Where HP really pulls away is the combined integration of sharing data over the cloud and initiating that sharing by proximity using Bluetooth.

Now, none of this is to say that HP wins. Right now, the numbers are clear. WebOS had a 2% market share in the last quarter of 2010. Windows still accounts for nearly 90% of operating systems. iOS and Android blow WebOS clean out of the water and without even trying, Google has more users in its ecosystem than HP could currently hope for. If nothing else, HP put forth a bold vision of an ecosystem of devices that actually make sense. There's nothing ragtag or disjointed about the entire affair. One talks to another talks to another, without asking if it needs to.

While some of what HP showed today may be simple tricks that make everything seem far more connected - such as receiving SMS on your tablet when your phone is in the other room - they were the first to show off these simple tricks. It's these sorts of tricks we've been waiting for from the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft, but HP beat them all to the punch.

Today HP is holidng a press conference to introduce its new webOS-based tablet and smartphones to the world, while also providing a roadmap for its mobile strategy going forward. WebOS is a mobile operating system that HP acquired when it bought Palm last summer for $1.2 billion and it's expected to serve as the basis for a number of HP products going forward - and not just tablets and phones, but possibly even Internet TVs and personal computers.

The theme for the conference, whose tagline is "Think Big. Think Small. Think Beyond," is connected experiences. Some devices are better at content consumption, while others are for content creation - this according to HP exec Todd Bradley, VP in the company's Personal Systems group. He made these comments during a CNBC interview last month, where he teased the news of the forthcoming HP iPad competitor. Today, the teasing ends and HP gives up the goods on what it has planned next to take on the iPhone, the iPad and the Android army. Stay tuned for our live coverage of the event.

10:16 AM: HP Executive VP Todd Bradley has taken the stage and the event has begun.

"Think back to that time when you first experienced something" he asks the crowd. His memories? A first drive of an electric car. "We should all witness these firsts, as often as we can in our lives. Creating these experiences for a living is what the technology industry is all about."

10:19 AM: We serve over a billion customers in 174 countries with 145,000 partners, 88,000 retail locations. "Our global reach is unprecedented." Ship 120 PCs every minute.

"We're in the early stages of a market that's going to continue to grow in size, importance and relevance for many, many years to come."

10:23 AM: "We've seen an explosion in the number of digital services. We have more and more people accessing more and more content from cloud-based devices. No one before today has come forward and developed a solution that works ubiquitously across these devices."

-Showing a slide with Pandora, Google, Facebook, Pandora, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

"Think, feel & connect" looks to be the tagline phrase of today's announcement.

10:25 AM: John Rubinstein, Senior VP and GM takes the stage.

Talking about "Synergy" - merges information from the cloud across devices.

"Today marks an important new beginning."

10:28 AM: Delivered hundreds of new features (video capture, 3D games, enterprise) over the past year.

WebOS 2.1 is "most important so far" with "true multitasking," universal search and more.

Delivered WebOS on five devices in Pre and Pixi families.

"It's time to take things to a whole new level."

10:30 AM: "What works well for a lot of people is the power of a large phone in a smaller size. Soemthing that's powerful, but elegantly small."

Rubinstein holds up the HP Veer - this thing is tiny, we're talking smaller than a credit card.

-Has slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 2.6" 320x400 touch display, gesture area, browser, full Adobe Flash, GPS, 5 megapixel camera.

10:34 AM: Introducing the Pre3 - another slideout QWERTY phone that looks similar to an iPhone otherwise.

Rubinstein says that when you put your Veer or Pre3 on your Touchstone device to charge it, it automatically goes into a preview mode to scroll through your pics or showcase other content. (Do you want your photo library to be shown every time you charge? I'm not sure I do.)

10:38 AM:And now, the HP TouchPad.

-16 or 32 GB, twice the memory of Pre2, Gyro, accelerometer, compass. Dual Core.

10:40 AM: "Nobody comes close to our WebOS experience."

"If you buy a TouchPad, all you need to do is enter your username and password and all your information shows up." - talking about Synergy.

-Keyboard contains number row.
-Works with QuickOffice, Google Docs, Dropbox & Box.net
-VPN, Video Calling
-Full Web/Adobe Flash
-Sync'd music collections

10:44 AM: Sachin Kansal - Director, Product Management takes the stage.

Kansal is going to "dive a bit deeper" into the features.

Showing off charging on Touchstone - switches the device to "exhibition mode," which shows coming appointments and similar information.

Now here's something: A text message that comes in on the phone can be accessed from the TouchPad. Same for phone calls.

"These are a couple examples of how WebOS helps me integrate my devices."

10:51 AM: Email app:

-Email supports multiple accounts, lets you navigate according to an account or can view all accounts in one inbox.

-Multi message select for deleting, etc.

"On WebOS, multitasking was not an afterthought. It was key from day one."

10:56 AM: Multitasking & Notifications:

-Notifications don't interrupt workflow, wait in the upper right corner. Can be dismissed with a swipe or opened with a tap.

-Organizes messages from different aps all in one place

Keyboard can be resized - has multiple options for keyboard size, from small to medium to large for different size fingers.

11:00 AM: Social Networking Integration:

-Integrates photos from across social platforms, show Facebook comments on a photo from within the WebOS photo app.

"This is seamless integration with social networking."

-Also showing ability to quickly print from TouchPad - click through two quick windows and the photo is printed.

11:04 AM: TouchPad as an eReader

-Partnering with Amazon - will have access to books from Kindle collection.

-Renders text as well as color images, standard page flip animation

Video Calling:

-Shows off video calling via Skype, from TouchPad to Pre3

"We're working to build video calling into all our applications."

11:10 AM: Bringing Pre3 together with TouchPad, one device can sync with the other to show the same Web page or content. Uses "TouchStone" technology.

11:12 AM: Availability: Wi-Fi version of TouchPad available this summer, followed later by 3G and 4G enabled devices.

-Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm power the devices unveiled today.

11:16 AM: Dr. Paul Jacobs - Qualcomm Chairman & CEO:

"The future is wide open when it comes to growth and opportunities in the mobile space."

Last year, shipped 399 million chipsets on a wide variety of devices - smartphones, netbooks, feature phones, eReaders, etc.

11:24 AM: TouchPad - first to support Beats audio system

Jimmy Lovine, CEO takes the stage.

"We're here to fix the degradation of music. We're working on everything from the file to the PC to the headphones to the speakers and right to the consumer."

The record industry downgrades music quality before shipping to iTunes.

"We're changing our pipes to 24 bit."

11:28 AM:

"Paul McCartney can engineer the music all he wants, when you play it on a Dell PC it sounds like it's coming from a portable TV."

"We have a million laptops with Beats audio. HP is stepping forward and it wants to own music. Computers are the de facto home stereo. Music is still the best app for the Internet."

-Developed a hardware/software solution with HP.

11:32 AM: Steven McArthur - Senior VP of Applications and Services

Facebook is fully integrated, is the long and short of it. Contacts, photos, notifications, etc.

"But, WebOS doesn't just enhance big players like Facebook."

SelfAware Games - used WebOS to create in-app payment structure (card games)

Kandutech - created Voogle - a Google Voice app

"We give developers a choice of powerful tools that are fun and easy to use."

Will be showing off SDK to over 500 developers tonight. Wants to help developers move away from stand-alone apps to deeper integration with full OS.

11:55 AM: Bringing WebOS to the PC

"Do the math on two PCs a second. Do the math on 2 printers per second. You easily excede 100 million devices annually. I think that's the start of something pretty big."

11:57 AM:

Apparently MC Hammer and Serena Williams are here. In case you were wondering.

"We're committed to helping build this ecosystem, from small to big, from local to global."

Alrighty, folks. That's about it for the HP event (and my laptop battery.)

But according to Bradley, tablets aren't all HP has in store for webOS.  He spoke of the operating system coming to more devices, "everything from smartphones to tablets to PCs to potentially other large screen devices."  PCs? TVs? What does HP have planned?

HP's webOS Plans

When asked how HP will differentiate itself from its competitors like the iPad, Bradley said "you and I will talk about that on the 9th," referring to the February press conference the company will soon hold in San Francisco where the focus will be on webOS.

The statement also practically confirms that the announcement will involve the unveiling of HP's new tablet computer.

And that won't be all, says Bradley. "We're totally focused on the tablet market... but the tablet is one piece of that ecosystem, one piece of that connected experience we're going to create," he said.

So how does the PC fit into HP's plans? Are we moving away from the PC?, the interviewer asked.

"I would say that we're not moving away from the PC," said Bradley. "I would say that our focus...is really connected devices - it's mobile, it's portable...how do we create that connected experience that allows you to safely, seamlessly access that content that is so important to you?"

He then explained how tablets are great for content consumption, and PCs are great for content creation, and that the tablet market was not cannibalizing the PC market - it was adjacent to it. It comes down to the purpose of what you need the product for: consumption or creation. "It's not a generational shift," Bradley said, responding to a question about the demographics of tablet users, "it's optimization of usage."

Last week, HP invited select press to attend "an exciting webOS announcement" scheduled for Feb. 9 in San Francisco. The tagline for the event - "Think Big. Think Small. Think Beyond." - makes even more sense in light of Bradley's comments about the mobile operating system's multi-platform future.

Other Devices?

While it's expected that an iPad rival is top on the list as to what's being revealed next month, it's clear that HP has much more planned for webOS. Given Bradley's hints about "other devices," we're interested in learning how exactly HP has integrated webOS components into its PC line, for example. Will there be a webOS layer that can run on top of Windows? Will you have dual-booting machines? Will webOS power small screens embedded in a notebook's shell? Will there actually be desktop or notebook PCs running just webOS?

And what's this about webOS on other large screen devices? Larger than a PC? Well that means TV, of course. What's HP working on there? Its own Apple TV/Google TV rival?

Dropping broad hints about HP's iPad rival, a known entity at this point, almost throws us off course from the bigger news here. HP's most exciting reveal may be its webOS ecosystem plans, not the webOS  tablet itself. This news is bound to shake up the industry - a Windows OEM pushing a new operating system throughout its product line, from tablets to PCs and more, instead of just building a tablet alone? Very interesting.

You can watch the video for yourself here:

Via PreCentral

In September, HP pushed a beta of the webOS SDK (software development kit) to developers, allowing them to experiment with all the new features of the updated operating system. These features included a multi-tasking user interface improvement called "stacks" (for stacking open screens like a deck of cards), the introduction of "Just Type" quick actions for common tasks like Facebook status updates, adding items to a list or starting an email, an improved Universal Search feature which extends phone-based searches to the Web, a screensaver-like "Exhibition" mode customizable through apps and various under-the-hood improvements including HTML5 support, PDK plugins and more.

Today's reveal of webOS 2.0 doesn't add much to the earlier list, but does make note of the fact that Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta will be supported, an important distinction between mobile operating systems today. Ever since Apple banned Flash from its mobile devices, competitors are quick to point out the inclusion of Flash as a feature they offer which the iPhone doesn't.

Another notable feature, is the Synergy, the technology which merges Facebook, Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn and Exchange contacts into one universal contact list. Now that feature has been extended so third-party developers can actually build on top of Synergy, offering plugins for the OS's built-in Messaging, Contacts and Calendar applications. A clever example of Synergy's potential can be seen with Facebook's webOS 2.0 app, which supports Facebook IM via Synergy in the Messaging application.

WebOS 2.0 also includes Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite, which allows for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint viewing and integration with Google Docs and Dropbox. For office workers, that's a nice value-add since normally Quickoffice is a paid application. IPsec and Cisco's AnyConnect mobile optimized VPN along with support for Exchange email round out the corporate user-targeted features.

Oui, Oui - Pre 2 Launches in France

Oddly, HP has decided to launch the Pre 2 Friday in France from SFR. And it won't become available to U.S. or Canadian users until months later. However, since it will arrive on Verizon Wireless when it reaches North America, Pre 2 users can take advantage of the Verizon/Skype partnership to make Skype-to-Skype calls using the new device. Developers will also be able to buy an unlocked UMTS version of Pre 2 in the U.S, notes HP.

And yes, original Pre owners, HP says that "some" of the new webOS 2.0 features will arrive as over-the-air software updates. Unfortunately, HP doesn't specify which ones.

Can webOS Stage a Comeback?

There was never a question (in our minds, at least) that the original webOS was a good mobile operating system, and webOS 2.0 looks like a worthy update to its predecessor. But Palm Pre's hardware wasn't great, especially when compared with the top-of-the-line iPhone. Plus, Palm's paltry App Catalog showed how few developers had spent time building native apps for the new OS. In February, for example, it included just 1,452 apps, according to analytics firm Distimo. As of late September, webOS reached the 5,000 app mark (note to Distimo: update your website). Considerable growth, but so far behind Apple's App Store (now at 300,000 apps!), it seems like a drop in the bucket.

Still, times have changed since the first Palm Pre's reveal. Consumers have found comfort in a number of iPhone alternatives, most notably Android, which sometimes even arrives on feature phone-grade hardware. Economic pressure also may influence buying decisions, too. If Pre 2 can get its pricing right (also unknown at this time), it may find a niche as an affordable alternative - prettier than Android, cheaper than iPhone. But that's just a guess - what do you think?

What's New in webOS 2.0

The release of webOS 2.0 represents the biggest update yet, notes the page on Palm's Developer Center detailing the new features. And, by the looks of it, the list does include several compelling upgrades:

Stacks

The new Stacks feature extends Palm's "card" metaphor that allows users to interact with screens as if they were individual cards. To close an app, for example, you just drag the card off the screen and "poof!" the program is closed. With Stacks, webOS 2.0 will automatically group related cards in an effort to reduce clutter and to allow for quickly switching between tasks. Users can also manually create stacks via drag-and-drop to manage them outside of operating system control. Developers don't have to do anything special to use Stacks - new cards resulting from user actions within an app will be automatically grouped with the app's main card.

Just Type

Just Type is the new name for webOS's Universal Search feature which allows users to search for things both on the device and the Web. One of the new enhancements to this feature is something called "Quick Actions." This lets users perform routine tasks like updating their Facebook status, setting reminders, adding items to a shopping list, start an email and other common tasks. Also new is an ability for developers to expand their app's capabilities by hooking into Just Type either through indexing of data stored on the device or through the creation of their own custom Quick Actions.

Exhibition

Exhibition is a screensaver-like program that runs when the phone is docked. It can display slideshows, a clock, stock updates, news, or sports tickers but can also be customized through apps created by developers.

Synergy APIs

Synergy is remembered as the feature which merged Facebook contacts into the Palm Pre's address book, but it also supports Google, Microsoft Exchange, LinkedIn and Yahoo. Contacts are pulled into the phone's address book to show things like birthdays, work and personal calendars side-by-side, IM and text messages combined into a single conversation and more. In webOS 2.0, Synergy APIs are being made available to developers for use with connectors for contacts, calendar and Messaging and later for other webOS data types too. For example, developers can use the connectors to connect a chat or IM app with the webOS Messaging app, access contacts stored on a social network or online community into the Contacts app, or access other calendars or online events within the built-in Calendar app.

Under-the-Hood: HTML 5, JavaScript, PDK Plug-ins

Other advances in under-the-hood technologies include support for HTML5 features like enhanced canvas, Web storage, geolocation and application cache. Also new is built -in support for the Node.js runtime environment and PDK Plug-ins, which allow developers to build games and other immersive apps in C/C++. This latter feature is currently in beta, but with webOS 2.0 the beta period will end and developers can begin to distribute apps that use these plug-ins.

Does HP Have a Shot with webOS?

Before Google's Android emerged as the iPhone rival it is today, many saw Palm's WebOS as a possible contender to take the iPhone down a notch from its dominant position among smartphones. Wall St. Journal's Walt Mossberg even called the Pre "a powerful competitor" to the iPhone when it launched as well as a "beautiful, innovative and versatile hand-held computer." He wasn't alone in this sentiment.

The idea of the Pre as an upstart "iPhone killer" soon lost its appeal, though, when the webOS-powered phone and its smaller sibling the Pixi, simply didn't sell. It was said that the lackluster sales may have had more to do with the hardware used, the carrier or the lack of developer buy-in, and not the OS itself, however.

But HP, desperately needing to re-enter the mobile game, clearly thought webOS still had potential, and not just for mobile, but for tablet computing as well. In July, HP registered the trademark "PalmPad" and, earlier this month, confirmed its plans to ship a webOS-based tablet early next year. For the most part, the tech community's initial reaction was positive, upon hearing the acquisition news this April, with most hoping that HP could be the company to breathe new life into the dying, but delightful, webOS platform.

What remains to be seen, however, is whether or not tablet computing will actually take hold as a new trend in computing, regardless of the operating system powering the device, or if the iPad is simply another example of Apple releasing a product (like its iPod) that dominates a market. Android, although now outpacing iPhone shipments in many markets, most notably the U.S., has yet to emerge as the OS of choice on any iPad rival. There are many Android tablets in the works and some for sale in limited markets, but no major releases as of yet. It's far too soon to say if an Android tablet will overtake the iPad or vice versa. In fact, it's just as possible that HP's "PalmPad" could be the real iPad competitor, for that matter. That's what HP is hoping for, of course. But it is notable that HP, a personal computing powerhouse in this industry, has embraced a new operating system that's not Microsoft Windows. If marketed well, priced appropriately and - most importantly - if HP's brand name clout can attract developer attention, it's fair to say the "PalmPad" has a real shot.

Chrome is currently only available for the PC, Mac and Linux and if we're expecting it to come out for webOS and finally hit the mobile scene, then we can only imagine we'd be seeing a version released for Android, the operating system for Google's own Nexus One as well. The iPhone and iPad version, however, we don't think we'll hold our breath waiting for.

In the world of desktop browsers, Chrome has been steadily gaining on competitors Internet Explorer and Firefox in recent months. As it has gained more and more features and increased stability, it's become a viable alternative to the old stand-bys. An introduction to the mobile realm could be an interesting development for the browser that's seen as a lightweight and speedy alternative to it's bulkier counterparts.

The new tablet, to be possibly introduced in Q3, is code-named Hurricane and will run on Palm's mobile operating system. HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion last month.

Maybe the Hurricane will be as fast as its namesake. Or maybe it will just blow through and leave a mess behind.

Although the mobile site at m.myspace.com is available from any mobile web browser, the newly updated version only visible to users of select smartphones. That's because the new site is specifically designed to take advantage of features present in the advanced web browsers present on those devices. Users visiting from other phones will still encounter the older site, which itself was revamped at the beginning of the year, with a new look designed to make it more closely resemble the original, desktop-based website.

In addition to real-time updates from MySpace, the new mobile site introduces a built-in client which displays a web-enabled version of MySpace IM, the company's own instant messaging service. By tapping on the "IM" button under the "Me" tab, you can instantly go online and chat with friends just as if you were using a standalone instant-messaging software application.

Mobile Website Now Outperforms Native Apps

What's most interesting about the new web-based IM functionality in the updated site, is the fact that this is (for now) the only official tool provided by the company for IMing from your mobile device. Believe it or not, the dedicated mobile applications built for the iPhone, Android and Palm do not include an IM client at all. This has been a much-requested feature from MySpace users who have had no other choice but to use third-party applications like BeeJive IM, for example. In fact, a quick Google search on the topic leads to multiple MySpace forum posts begging for this feature as well as this user-created YouTube video demonstrating how you can get MySpace IM on your iPhone via other methods.

According to the company, 75% of its user base accesses the mobile web site, which could explain why they've focused on updating the site first before updating the native apps. However, it's likely that the majority of their mobile web visitors are those without expensive smartphones, and so are being redirected to the older site. Without detailed statistics from the company itself, this is only a guess. But outside demographic studies show that MySpace is dominated by younger users, and is the social networking site with users in the lowest income levels. It seems probable that the network's mobile-website visitors don't own expensive mobile devices. That makes the smartphone mobile-website update and any forthcoming native app updates somewhat of a nonstarter for many MySpace users.

It will be interesting to see if MySpace soon updates their native applications to include this new functionality as well, or if they're more sold on the idea that the mobile web is - or at least should be - the app of choice for their users.

If you're interested in visiting the new site, you can do so via m.myspace.com using your phone's web browser. The new changes are live for everyone as of now.