Whitman says the open source Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman says the company's soon-to-be open source WebOS software will eventually be better than both the Android and iOS platforms.
HP will launch the first version of the reimagined operating system in September this year after deciding to commit the storied software to the open source community.
Whitman said the result will prove to be superior to the 'closed' Apple iOS ecosystem and the undeniably 'fragmented' Android platform.
She also confirmed that the company will re-enter the tablet market, following the HP TouchPad debacle of 2011.
An open and closed caseIn an interview with CRN, she said: "There is a clear vision of what we're trying to accomplish.
"There will be some people who will not love that vision, and then there are people who are very excited about this vision, and what it can mean for an alternative, open-source operating system that has some real strengths to it.
"We're going to build another operating system that has huge advantages, in my view, over iOS, which is a closed system, [and] Android, which is incredibly fragmented and may ultimately be more closed with [Google's] acquisition of Motorola Mobility."
Windows 8 tabletWhitman, who took the reigns at the world's largest PC manufacturer in September last year, also stated that HP will be in amongst it when the first Windows 8 tablets come to market later this year.
She said: "We have to have a tablet offering," Whitman said. "We will be back in that business. We're coming back into the market with a Windows 8 tablet, first on an x86 chip and then maybe on an ARM chip."
Via: CRN, BGR
Tags: HP, Meg Whitman, Hewlett-Packard, WebOS, Windows 8 tabletsTweetreddit!Stumbleupon Your comments (4) Click to add a new commentsimon_m4. Whilst I'd love to agree with other commenters about Android's fragmentation not being as bad as is often implied, the problem is that firmware updates are slow. Right now the stats are fine, but in a year when those contracted handsets are ageing and Android has moved through more iterations, the networks and handset manufacturers will both have delayed updates hopelessly. As new Android versions come on to the market and are sold preinstalled on new phones, older phones which could theoretically run them will not do so due to networks taking an age to brand and 'approve' updates, and hardware manufacturers like HTC taking an age to produce their own skinned version. As much as I love Android (and I really do), fragmentation will continue to be a problem as long as networks and hardware manufacturers both get to defocate all over each OS update.
Alert a moderatordyonas3. Let me get this straight. A product that, albeit quite good (webOS I mean), isn't due out for another seven months is going to have "huge advantages" over iOS and Android? HHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHHAAHAHHAAHA! Are the advantages that it won't be available on any hardware, initially, and therefore can't be reviewed or rated badly?
iOS works because it's so closed and the only fragmentation is caused by old hardware. Android is as successful as it is because it's widely available to all for free and has no real minimum specification to adhere to.
Android has a degree of fragmentation but it is nowhere near as bad as many like to make it out to be. At last count Gingerbread (2.3), the newest version that's widely available, was on around 58% of all Android handsets according to Google. The majority of the rest are on FroYo (2.2) and some Eclair (2.1) yet the way it's mentioned you would think it's far worse. Given the situation with older handsets stuck on some versions this is no different than Apple and their older handsets.
Back to the article, how is a newly released OS with no hardware going to have any advantages over existing products that have had years to mature? I suppose when you've got seven months to fix things it's easy to spout off stupid statements like that.
Alert a moderatorblackbetty2. LOL, another idiot writer than thinks Android is fragmented because Apple said so.
I really wonder what technical qualifications these writers have, or are they just rejects from Take-A-Break....
Apple Fragmentation: http://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/iOS_fragmentation_thumb.png
Android Fragmentation: http://tinyurl.com/androidnon-fragmentation
Alert a moderatorbradavon1. If HP really had faith in WebOS they'd be releasing a tablet with their own OS and not somebody else's.
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The HP TouchPad failed but other manufacturers will get the chance to redeem WebOS 
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