It's Official: HP Not Making Windows Phone 7 Devices

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/24/hp-not-making-windows-phone-7-devices-focusing-on-webos-instead/' target='_blank'>http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/24/...-webos-instead/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"No big surprise here, but HP Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley just flat-out confirmed to CNBC that HP will not be making any Windows Phone 7 devices, preferring instead to focus on the newly-acquired webOS for its line of smartphones."</em></p><p><object width="400" height="380" data="http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1550389746/code/cnbcplayershare" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="cnbcplayer"><param name="type" value="application/x-shockwave-flash" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="quality" value="best" /><param name="scale" value="noscale" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><param name="salign" value="lt" /><param name="src" value="http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1550389746/code/cnbcplayershare" /><param name="name" value="cnbcplayer" /></object></p><p>I think we all saw this coming the moment HP bought Palm, but now we know for sure. Let's be honest though: will it matter? HP has struggled to be relevant in the smartphone industry for years - their PDA devices were impressive, but they never made a successful transition to hybrid PDA/phones. I don't think this is a significant loss for Microsoft in the Windows Phone space. What do you think?</p>

[Fritzly]

It does matter indeed: if HP will be able to launch a competitive product based on Palm Technology this would be a double blow to MS.
Not only WP7 would have another competitor but people will relate the previous failure on the OS HP was using.

Besides HP, which products I personally do not like since Ms. Fiorina took over and destroyed the company, is still the biggest player in the PC arena, no matter how PR people could try to spin or minimize its absence from the WP7 partners.

Furthermore this also means that HP most probably will focus all the efforts to develop a "Slate PC" using internal OS and not MS ones.

[vangrieg]

Who cares.

[Fritzly]

Who cares.

People with financial intersts in MS do for sure.

[doogald]

HP will have a good sell to their enterprise customers for a "buy our computers, and we have great phones, too." So far, the focus of WP7 doesn't seem to be enterprise. It may hurt a bit, but this WP7 platform looks geared toward personal, consumer use.

[efjay]

WP7 would seem a good fit for HP with their position in computers. WP7 connects (or will in the future) with several of MS's online services and would have been a good way to promote sales of both Windows pc's and phones by highlighting their connectivity. You cant claim features like Onenote syncing, 25GB skydrive or photo sync with a webOS device. Makes you think though, when WP7 was launched HP was there, one acquisition later and they are no more a WP7 partner, conceivably this could happen with HTC, Samsung and other current WP7 OEMs. MS should have a backup plan because if these hardware makers start going their own way one by one where will that leave MS and their mobile OS?

[vangrieg]

Well, there aren't too many Palms up for grabs in the market, and it seems that HTC was sane enough not to pay the exorbitant ridiculous amount HP did. So I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Also, you may recall the story of HTC themselves. They were nothing, and when MS came to Nokias and Motorolas of the world with the proposition to sell devices with Windows on them, and those big guys declined, opting for Symbian, what did MS do? Right, found a small Taiwanese manufacturer and made it big.