HP WebOS phones to launch early 2011


6 Oct 2010

New WebOS devices are on the way in early 2011, said HP’s senior vice-president Eric Cador.

Speaking at a conference in Barcelona, he said the new phones will be coming “early next year.”

HP has been absent from the smartphone market up until now. It acquired Palm, who was involved the smartphone market early, for $1.2bn earlier in the year.

The acquisition was to get hold of Pam’s WebOS operating system, which will be used for these future handsets next year.

The smartphone market is becoming increasingly profitable, with other PC makers, such as Dell and Acer, moving into the area.

Last week, HP’s Todd Bradley said the company would “aggressively attack” the smartphone market and will pump more into the Palm business.

He also said the OS would not be limited to smartphones.

“We believe we can scale WebOS seamlessly across our entire portfolio,” he said.

A WebOS smartphone in 2011 would see HP kick off its ambitious plan for Palm’s operating system.