After purchasing Palm, putting webOS on smartphones and tablets, and then giving up, it seems that HP has finally decided it needs to offer a smartphone. Pressured on the point in an interview with Fox Business, HP’s CEO Meg Whitman said that the company “ultimately has to offer a smartphone.” But when, where, how, and what are still up in the air.
There’s also the tidy little problem that saying you need to make a smartphone in 2012 is like saying you need to build a cotton gin in 1953. And with webOS in the refuse pile, Windows Phone struggling to get a foothold, and Android being an over-saturated mess dominated by a few major players, it’s hard to see where HP will fit in.
Probably developing countries, probably with something cheap and forgettable, throwing elbows with RIM. HP has to offer a smartphone, sure. But that doesn’t mean anyone’s going to take them up on it. [Fox Business via Engadget]