HP gives developers more options by open sourcing webOS

After months of speculation, HP chief executive Meg Whitman announced on Friday that the firm will keep the webOS operating system running and offer it on an open source licence.

But what does this actually mean? First off, this is great news for customers who might have been caught up in the excitement and bought an HP TouchPad in the firesale as it means that updates for the device will be offered through an official channel.

It also means that the HP firesales, the latest of which took place on eBay's US site over the weekend, could ultimately work to HP's advantage by expanding the tablet's user base. There are currently hundreds of thousands of TouchPads in the hands of developers, many of whom bought the device for the excellent hardware so that they could port Android onto it.

Opening up webOS has now given developers a reason to continue using the OS that shipped with the tablet, and to help improve it and build a catalogue of apps. This could create that essential ecosystem for the platform and, although it doesn't have a realistic chance of catching Android and iOS in terms of the volume of apps, it will help make webOS devices more useful than is currently the case.

The release of the webOS source code is also good news for Android developers and end-users as the best bits from the software could find their way onto Google's operating system.

If Google engineers do take anything from webOS it is most likely to be the excellent gesture system which works really well with touch screens. Even the bods at Apple are likely to take a closer look at the source code to see whether there is anything that they can 'borrow' to improve iOS.

With the market dominated by Android and iOS devices, and Windows Phone yet to get a foothold, webOS could be just the ticket for a handset manufacturer willing to take a risk for the sake of differentiation.

Of course, webOS still has a long way to go to become commercially successful, as handset makers are unlikely to start packing and shipping devices with the software overnight. HP will need to demonstrate a long-term commitment to the project, which it hasn't been too good at lately.

In an era when open source software such as Android can become phenomenally successful, this could be the rebirth that webOS needs, and might even justify HP's Palm acquisition.

It will be interesting to see the resources that HP puts into the open source project. Handheld devices continue to eat into PC sales, and the demand for high-end smartphones and tablets is increasing all the time.

HP has been wise not to axe the platform and, even if third-party manufacturers don't use webOS, there is nothing to stop HP making another assault on the mobile market in a year or so.

12 Dec 2011