HP CEO Mark Hurd once again reaffirmed that his company’s recent Palm acquisition was driven more by Palm’s intellectual property than its smartphone (with the Palm Pre and Pixi) business. Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch technology conference, Hurd indicated that HP is looking at using webOS in a large number of internet-connected devices (including printers):
We didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business. And I tell people that, but it doesn’t seem to resonate well. We bought it for the IP. The WebOS is one of the two ground-up pieces of software that is built as a web operating environment… We have tens of millions of HP small form factor web-connected devices… Now imagine that being a web-connected environment where now you can get a common look and feel and a common set of services laid against that environment. That is a very value proposition.
I don’t think that HP will necessarily mothball Palm’s smartphone business but I don’t expect them to be the webOS crown jewel either.