It may end up being the betamax of this decade, but it is far superior to iOS. iOS has the apps and the nice hardware to use it on, but is clunky and inefficient. WebOS is as elegant as Apple's hardware. If HP can find a way to get some traction for WebOS, it would make things interesting.
Unfortunately, I think that HP may be too late to the party. Its touchpad and Pre3 are coming out this summer. By then, Apple will have come out with the iPad2 and iPhone5, and HP will be shooting at a target that has already been moved farther away. They needed to have the Touchpad NOW. The only reason HP has a chance is because of its size and reach. If they come up with a way to tie WebOS to the millions of computers and other devices it sells, it may be able to make up for that tardiness. But it is unlikely.
I don't understand why it has taken so long for all these big hardware makers to respond to the iPad. It was released in April 2010, announced 3 months before that, and rumored 6 months before that. Since release, Apple has been able to develop a 2nd generation device while only Motorola and Samsung have been able to release anything that is even close to competitive. Motorola is not on the market even yet. Apple's advantage is not just its design; it is very good at getting great stuff to market.
What HP could do that Android and Apple cannot is specialize in industry or education. The Android and Ipad are generalist machines, geared more for entertainment than anything else.
If HP were to take their machines and create various kinds of industrial standard software for mobile workers in manufacturing, retail, hospitality, you name it, they could own an important part of the market.
Has happened before.
I’ve read that several companies including HP are looking for ways to put an arm computer in parrallel with Wintel on notebooks. Need full computer power, you have 4-6 hours using the full Wintel system, need 16 hours, save your work and switch to the ARM + mobile OS running with a real keyboard and screen.
The concept sounds interesting.
Greater China touch panel market
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China is the world's largest producer of touch panels and China and Taiwan combined to account for close to 80% of touch modules for handsets shipped in 2010.
HP? They make a cheap and fairly reliable printer. All-in-one is handy. As an organization that satisfies customers, or can define the future? Anythings possible, right? Certainly there's the Hewlett "legacy" of fond memory. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it.