Hewlett-Packard
HP's Palm Pre 2 will be available in France come Friday. Verizon Wireless -- the market-leading partnership of Verizon
The new smartphone won't be alone. HP is also rolling out a refreshed version of Palm's revolutionary webOS platform. Version 2.0's features include more intuitive grouping of related apps and integration of Adobe's
Despite these cool features, is HP too late to make a difference in the smartphone market? Early adopters have already seen Palm come undone, but HP has the financial and marketing muscle to make consumers forget about its recent acquisition's shortcomings as a stand-alone company. But even mighty HP and its bankroll may not have the power to make webOS 2.0 relevant.
Palm Pre sputtered against what was then a smaller base of Apple
In other words, webOS failed a year ago against lighter competiton. Can HP make a proprietary platform work in a market where Android and WP7 are easily available to every handset maker and wireless carrier? Are Apple's iOS and BlackBerry's platform too established to tackle head-on? Is the Palm Pre 2 superior enough to the original to make a dent in this booming market?
That's the million-dollar question. Or, going by what HP spent on Palm, the $1.2 billion question.
Do you think Palm Pre 2 and webOS 2.0 have a shot? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.