Dear HP

Wed 09 Nov 2011

So, HP call a meeting to let everyone know they are still deciding the fate of WebOS. This is excellent news, while also quite comical. Vendors in the mobile space like to do this though, and it does help to keep us mobile developer types amused. Given that coding for the mobile web can at some times be hard, I thank them for that.

As a show of my thanks, I would like to humbly offer some strategic advice regarding WebOS.

On Brand Damage

The HP brand has certainly been damaged through what I now like to call the "Apotholypse", and the way HP needs to carry itself in these post-apotholyptic times is significantly different than before. The great thing is that the HP brand is strong, and as a consumer I'd still happily go out and by a HP printer, server, etc. I feel comfortable using HP in a sentence with regards to hardware.

That said, though you have proven to be poor custodians of the Palm brand. I really don't feel like I could say HP and mobile within 5 words of each other without have to reaffirm both myself and others I am speaking with that you do actually know what they are doing.

So, let's look at these last few months as an opportunity rather than the glorious screw up that it was.

It's an opportunity to relauch / renew the Palm brand. HP, given you seem to be comfortable with spin-offs, why not spin Palm back off into a self-contained entity with more autonomy and power. While trying to say HP and mobile feels difficult, saying Palm together mobile still feels incredibly natural. I genuinely see an opportunity here, and there are some great angles you could explore with regards to a Palm relaunch.

On OpenSource

It's great to see that the WebOS dev team have actively embraced various OpenSource technologies (Node.js, WebKit, etc) in the creation of the platform. First and foremost this is something that must be preserved - many companies today suffer from the Not Invented Here syndrome and are going to suffer as a result. Don't fall into that trap.

I'd love you to also consider opensourcing WebOS under potentially a new OpenSource brand (maybe Palm Foundation, Palm Labs, etc). While a simple argument for this would be that "all the cool kids are doing it" and therefore it would be a win on a marketing front, I believe there are also more compelling arguments:

WebOS has a strong community around it. People who have picked up a WebOS device, love them. Developers who have coded for the platform seem equally passionate. Take an existing strong community and empower them with OpenSource software generally proves to be a recipe for success.
WebOS already exists in an OpenSource ecosystem. In using and embracing existing OpenSource projects you are already hooked into the OpenSource ecosystem. If WebOS was to become an OpenSource product in it's own right, then that ecosystem grows stronger and all parties benefit.
OpenSource and Mobile OSes are not being done well at the moment. Technically, Android is OpenSource. In reality though, it just isn't. As a simple example, pop on over to source.android.com and see what the latest version of the source you can find is. Then compare that with the latest version of the OS you know about. Any questions? With regards to Meego and Tizen, I will leave that for another post, but suffice to say there is a vacuum to fill in Mobile OpenSource operating systems and I think WebOS could really flourish there.

On the Power of the Web

The mobile space is still wide open. Without doubt, iOS is the flagship consumer platform and Android is gaining massive market share through distribution in low-cost devices (Android is the new Symbian folks).

There is still a lot of opportunity though. I believe the current mobile space will eventually be dominated by the platform that proves to be the most interoperable. And when it comes to interoperability I look to the Web. Despite perceived technical limitations, the Web continues to grow, change and adapt.

I believe the more a ~~mobile~~device platform works with the Web, rather than against it, the greater it's potential reach and therefore success. Eventually, Mozilla's Boot to Gecko project may be this platform, but WebOS has a big head start if it chooses to stretch it's legs.

On Walled Gardens, Social and the Next Big Thing

While some of the existing mobile OS vendors are doing very well, they all have their own hosted services that consumers are encouraged to use. Essentially, the current strategy seems to replacing the previous telco-weeded walled gardens with OS-weeded walled gardens instead.

For the most part this seems to be working, and consumers dancing to the beat of the vendors drum. The fly in the ointment though is that none of the existing vendors do social very well. Consumers therefore look outside the vendor led offerings to things like Facebook and Twitter.

While I'm not really a big Facebook fan, it does demonstrate the power and reach of the web. With web technologies at it's core, WebOS should in theory be one of the most capable social mobile platforms. That's definitely something to be explored, grown and then publicized.

Also, when (not if) the next big web application starts to gain traction, built on the foundation of the web, WebOS will be there first.

In Summary

I believe WebOS is completely salvageable as a product. I think, however, there is little HP can do to regain any kind of consumer / shareholder confidence in mobility where they attempt to maintain direct control.

It's time to make some progressive changes, and at the same time cash in on a celebrated brands past. Will shareholders jump for joy at the news. They might if it were just the Palm relaunch. They may, however, be more skeptical with regards to any OpenSource plans.

I do believe, however, these are two decisions that do at least need to be roadmapped (if not announced) together. Doing either one without the other definitely diminishes the chance of success (OpenSource leads to more developers, leads to more apps, leads to more consumers, etc, etc).

HP, I wish you measured decision making, and I do genuinely believe what I have outlined above represents a decision that can be made right, even if it is not the exactly right decision.

Whatever you decide, I will continue to take an interest in WebOS.

Update: 2011-11-15

Well, it looks like the Android 4.0 source has been published. It's great to see the source code being released sooner than I expected, so I'm happy to eat my words with regards to previous comments around the lag of Android source releases. This doesn't change the fact that I'd love to see something at http://github.com/hp/webos ;)