HP WebOS May Benefit From Frustrated Android OEMs

Samsung, Motorola and other makers of high-end Android smartphones have become frustrated enough with Google's mobile operating system that it might open the door for another mobile platform player: HP's webOS.

Samsung, HTC and Motorola are the leading Android smartphone makers, with all three enjoying market share gains versus Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry devices in the past two years.

Global Equities Technology analyst Trip Chowdry said Motorola, Samsung and Sony are starting to feel that their premium handsets and tablets have little-to-no differentiation in the eyes of the customer against $20 Android phones from Huawei, or $150 tablets from ZTE.

These vendors furthermore fear that Android and its gross fragmentation across multiple OS versions, carriers and devices may dilute their global brand.

Sony, Motorola and Samsung are "in the extreme worried" that clients are beginning to pick devices based on Apple's iOS instead of their Android phones and tablets, Chowdry said.

"As things stand today, Android has probably peaked, and probably will start showing slow and gradual decline," Chowdry added.

WebOS would enable only two or three reference designs for only three or four OEM partners to limit the fragmentation that exists within the Android ecosystem, Chowdry recommended.

The analyst believes HP could license webOS for somewhere in the range of $50 to $75 per OEM smartphone or tablet, enabling the company and OEMs partners just as Samsung, Motorola and Sony to drive their premium brand at the expense of low-cost rivals just as Huawei and ZTE.

Moreover, since webOS is not free, the customer may be willing to pay for applications, making HP potentially a more viable OS option than Android to Apple iOS and the popular App Store.

However, tech analysts believe Chowdry's scenarios are unlikely, citing Samsung's strong commitments to Android on smartphones and Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" tablets, among other factors.

Gold added that he doesn't see WebOS making it as a general Android OS replacement for vendors other than HP, which will, no doubt, push WebOS as being superior to Honeycomb.

IDC analyst Al Hilwa said there would be interest in an alternative to Android or Windows from other OEMs, however the value proposition has to be evidently defined.