HP considering licensing WebOS to other Manufactures

When asked by Josh Topolsky of Thisismynext, this happened.

P CEO Leo Apotheker mentioned in passing that he thinks his company can get “some partners” to help distribute webOS, prompting us to ask whether they’d be willing to license webOS to third parties. Specifically, we gave the tantalizing (and purely hypothetical) example of HTC coming along and inquiring about manufacturing a webOS-powered phone. His answer was straightforward: that’s a conversation they’d be “open” to having. Clearly, HP intends to have a full suite of webOS-powered devices of its own — PCs, printers, handhelds, the whole nine yards — but it seems like bringing third parties into the equation has the potential to blow the platform’s market appeal wide open.

This clearly leaves the door open to other manufacturers to use WebOS as an alternative to Android and Windows Phone 7. While WebOS is not the most supported operating system, it definitely is the most innovative with a completely unique UI, that has now been copied by other OSs such as BlackBerry’s QNX and Windows Phone 7 in their application of multitasking and general look and feel.

Of course this could be on Tablets and even other PCs as is HP’s plan, lets just hope for an exciting fight for third place between Microsoft, RIM and HP. Who will fall? Only time will tell…