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How Dead is WebOS?

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Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#41

Post by rbanffy »

GHFigs wrote: post #26
jchrisa wrote: post #7

HP will be shipping WebOS on all its laptops and desktops. They are the #1 computer maker. You do the math.

HP has been shipping Splashtop (as "HP QuickWeb" and "Voodoo IOS") and on many models for several years now and nobody cared. Why would they, when Windows is right there? WebOS (though better than Splashtop) faces much the same problem. It's going to take bolder moves than just making it available.

With the increasing importance of web-based applications and the decreasing relevance of the desktop platform, I think interfaces like WebOS (with its "Just type" and smooth task-centered interface) do have a good chance of becoming relevant. If you develop for ChromeOS, chances are a port can be done in hours and will run smoothly on WebOS.

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#42

Post by rbanffy »

The biggest threat, by far, to WebOS is some Microsoft exec letting an HP exec know, casually, while they are, say, playing golf, that HP's Windows license could end up costing a bit more than Dell's because they are not really helping Windows Phone 7 become the success it deserves and helping WP7 would entitle a couple large discounts on other licenses.

Microsoft has enormous power on OEMs.

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#43

Post by spicerunner »

jeffthebear wrote: post #34

> WebOS even beat Windows Phone 7 in the single most important determination of the success of any mobile platform. The availability of Angry Birds. Angry Birds is coming to Windows Phone 7: http://www.bgr.com/2011/04/14/angry-birds-for-windows-phone-...

Yes, it definitely is coming to Windows Phone 7.

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#44

Post by zmmmmm »

The real question is not whether WebOS is good or bad but whether any single hardware and OS vendor (other than Apple, obviously) has a snowflake's chance in hell of getting the ecosystem and mindshare required to be competitive. Especially in the US where the carriers have a such strong hold on the only viable channels to consumers you basically can't get anywhere unless you can align your interests strongly with the established parties. Apple forced their way in through sheer mass consumer appeal, Google managed to do it through a brilliant strategy of giving carriers just enough control to make them see it as a savior from being dictated to by Apple. But what strategic value will carriers get from offering WebOS based phones? If HP screws them with bad hardware they are stuck. If HP screws them with bad software they are stuck. Pile on top of that the fact that the demands of modern smart phones these days go way beyond a nice OS - you just can't compete unless you come to the table with a huge range of services integrated - mapping, search, voice-to-text, etc. WebOS relies on competitors to get these services which can't possibly work long term.

I also disagree with the assessment of WP7 - I don't think the so-called "missteps" have even been noticed by the vast majority of consumers using WP7 phones. With Nokia maxing out their distribution channel to push WP7 phones I really can't see how WebOS is going to beat them. People are going to buy them just through sheer numbers of them on the shelves. It doesn't mean WP7 is going to succeed but certainly indicates WebOS is going to have a really hard time beating them.

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#45

Post by jdub »

jonah wrote: post #36
JoelSutherland wrote: post #33

I had a Pre for two years, just got the Nexus S and my wife has an iPhone 4. Without question, the biggest UX differences between the platforms are: 1. General responsiveness (iPhone leads) 2. Notifications (iPhone trails dramatically) 3. Web Page as a 1st class OS object. (WebOS is the only one that does this) This third point is NEVER discussed. With Android and iOS, you have to go to the browser and then jump to a…

In WebOS, everything is a card. When you're trying to pull ESPN back up, you seek ESPN, not 'browser'. That I like. It harkens back to the days of non-tabbed browsers on the desktop. But while the desktop is conducive to working with many tabs successfully (UX- and hardware-wise) on mobile, it makes a lot more sense to have a single level of windowing rather than the nesting a tabbed browser gives you.

... but not when you have deliciously usable and tactile "cards". :-)

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#46

Post by jonah »

jdub wrote: post #45
jonah wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In WebOS, everything is a card. When you're trying to pull ESPN back up, you seek ESPN, not 'browser'. That I like. It harkens back to the days of non-tabbed browsers on the desktop. But while the desktop is conducive to working with many tabs successfully (UX- and hardware-wise) on mobile, it makes a lot more sense to have a single level of windowing rather than the nesting a tabbed browser gives you.

... but not when you have deliciously usable and tactile "cards". :-)

Right. And by promoting each "tab" to its own "card" at the same level as each other "app" you benefit from that.

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#47

Post by eekfuh »

davej wrote: post #39
eekfuh wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Node.js is only available for WebOS 2.0 (~90% of people are on older versions of WebOS).

Ok, I see that the original pre and pixi don't support WebOS 2.0, that's a real pity. From what I can see the WebOS 2.0/3.0 developer ecosystem looks a lot nicer (although it's probably not practical to drop 1.0 support yet), have you tried out Enyo + Node on 2.0/3.0? Any thoughts?

I actually haven't. Once my revenue dropped below $1k a month from WebOS, I basically stopped adding new features and moved over to my iphone stuffs. I make over $1k on iPhone and growing quickly, gotta love the power of 100m users (vs 1.5m shrinking set of users).

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#48

Post by eekfuh »

unwiredben wrote: post #15

I'm working with a team doing amazing things to ready the the HP TouchPad launch and webOS 3.0 for launch. We wouldn't be working so hard if we thought this platform was dead on arrival. HP has big plans and I'm glad we're a part of it.

Ben, we love you guys, but we feel that you spend too much time with EA, GameLoft and probably Rovio, and not enough with us little guys. Maybe thats whats caused some me to get so distant, worsening the effect.

In all reality, thats business. A company that was driving only a few thousand dollars of revenue a month isn't all the important compared to the ones probably doing 10-100x that. :|

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#49

Post by nl »

Does anyone else agree WebOS is the number 3 mobile OS after iOS & Android? Seriously?

Objectively RIM is by far the 3rd biggest player (by some measures it is in the top 2), and I can't see how WebOS is magically going to leapfrog them. Playbook might not be perfect, but it's a lot better than the unshipped HP TouchPad.

In my head WinPhone7 is number 4 - and they at least have a strategy to move up in the market (aka Nokia).

WebOS might be lovely (I wouldn't know.. you can't buy it in my market - which says a lot), but I can list pages in Wikipedia for lovely platforms like WebOS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_machine, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure etc etc)

Re: How Dead is WebOS?

#50

Post by warpdesign »

I have to agree with most of the comments:

- The OS is great, but the hardware really falls behind... too small screen, poor battery: I'm wondering: I don't think you can have lots of success without both a great phone and a greato OS

- As for the free developer device offer, it seems they were a bit selective... I applied for it and didn't get any answer.

I started developing even before the device was released here in France, and have had to use the emulator since then. And that's a pain :(

Let's hope the Pre 3 will change these things (the Veer won't certainly have a bigger screen... And if I remember correctly you'll need an adaptator to connect earphones: that's definitely not a phone for me :))

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