HP to use cloud as driver for webOS PCs, printers, phones

Leo Apotheker, the head honcho of Palm owner HP, has expanded on his plans to push the webOS platform by pre-installing it on every PC the vendor ships and cloud-enabling the company’s strategy.

As the world’s leading maker of PCs and printers by some margin, HP has the potential to deliver 100 million webOS-enabled devices a year into the marketplace, although PCs will still dual boot Windows. This growing installed base of devices provides a huge opportunity for HP to thrust webOS upon and in tandem, build a robust developer community targeting both the consumer and enterprise segments.

The cloud is central to Apotheker’s strategy both on the desktop and the mobile. In HP’s view, a hybrid environment that combines traditional environments with private and public clouds will be the prevailing model for many large enterprises for a long time.

“We see clearly a world in which the impact of cloud and connectivity is changing not only the user experience, but how individuals, small businesses and enterprises will consume, deploy and leverage information technology,” said Apotheker. “HP’s scalable, converged infrastructure forms the backbone of today’s cloud computing, and we expect our leadership in software, services, PCs and web-connected printers, as well as the strengths we’ve built and the investments we’ve made, to give us a huge advantage as we help define, deliver and run the truly connected world that spans cloud and connectivity, from the consumer through the enterprise.”

Apotheker also unveiled plans to build an open applications marketplace – a cloud services app store – that integrates consumer, enterprise and developer offerings. The platform will support multiple languages and will be open to third-parties. HP will vet applications for security and interoperability to facilitate an environment that is both trusted and open. A device-aware HP cloud will configure and send the appropriate services to the device that the customer is using, and connected devices will intuitively access services the customer needs, Apotheker said.