HP soon intends to relaunch their Palm-acquired webOS mobile operating system with a major new version, which they intend to use in a new lineup of devices to compete directly with iOS devices like the iPad. One new addition to the webOS arsenal of software features is pretty head-scratching, though: according to leaked screenshots of the software beta, the next version of webOS will sport MobileMe integration.
Huh. We don’t get it. Sure, Palm has done its dance with Apple before, giving Pre owners the ability to sync their media libraries through iTunes until Cupertino dropped the banhammer. But in that case, the benefits made sense. What does MobileMe integration get someone who has opted to buy a webOS phone or tablet instead of an iPhone or iPad… and just as importantly, what does it get HP, and will Apple kick?
[via Boy Genius Report]
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
