HP returning to smartphones with a unique experience?

In a published report on Monday, HP Senior Director Yam Su Yin said that the company is planning on returning to the smartphone industry, although a timetable was not mentioned. When it comes to smartphones, the executive said that, "HP has to be in the game." HP has the name and the reputation to compete with smartphone giants like Apple and Samsung. What it doesn't have is a clear focus and an unblemished reputation.

On April 28th 2010, HP put Palm out of its misery by purchasing the company for $1.2 billion. The purchase gave the Palo Alto based firm the webOS operating system and the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi handsets. The Palm Pre never lived up to the hype that started when the phone and the OS were both introduced at CES 2009 and Palm never recovered.


HP did manage a limited European launch of the HP Pre 3, but a U.S.launch of the device was canceled and unsold units ended up on eBay. That was back in 2011. Two years later, smartphone sales continue to grow and will surpass featurephone sales this year for the first time. But considering that Apple and Samsung together control 100% of the profits in the industry, how will HP compete from what is essentially a standing start? Yam Su Yin says that the key will be to come up with something unique. As far as which platform HP will embrace, ironically it will be Android. It's an ironic choice because it was the Android 2.0 powered Motorola DROID that surprisingly became the first real challenger to the Apple iPhone instead of the webOS powered Palm Pre, which everyone had expected heading into the summer of 2009.

source: IndianExpress via Engadget