eventually we'll finally get it right —

An HP smartphone is in the works, says director

Android? webOS? Firefox OS? Jolla? HP's allegiance is yet to be declared.

Hewlett-Packard has a new smartphone in the works, an executive confirmed to the Press Trust of India. Yam Su Yin, HP’s senior director for consumer PCs and media tablets in Asia, stated that HP “has to be in the game” when it comes to smartphones and that it would be a bad business decision to stay out of the market.

HP pulled out of the mobile market back in the summer of 2011 after its webOS TouchPad tablet was poorly received and its webOS phone, the Palm Pre, failed to get much attention. HP shut the division down and toyed with selling the operating system before opening it up to developers in early 2012.

Lately, HP has been dabbling in Android, releasing a 21-inch tablet/desktop hybrid running Android 4.2.2, and there are rumors that the company plans to develop full-fledged Android laptops (as opposed to the tablets-with-keyboard docks that are already available). While we wouldn't say that these product routes demonstrate the deepest understanding of what customers want… at least HP is trying?

When Yam was asked by press outlets if an HP smartphone was in the works, he stated, “The answer is yes, but I cannot give a timetable. It would be silly if we say no.” Yam also stated that “being late, you have to create a different set of propositions,” then followed that up by saying, “It’s not late. When HP has a smartphone, it will give a differentiated experience.” Yam did not clarify what mobile operating system allegiance HP might declare.

HP CEO Meg Whitman has stated in the past that the company's reentry to the smartphone market was only a matter of time. “We’re a computing company, we have to take advantage of that form factor,” Whitman said last September.

Channel Ars Technica