HP recently published a set of training materials for mobile carriers to help educate salespeople about the technical merits of webOS and Palm devices. One of the advantages of webOS that is briefly highlighted in the training is the platform's ability to run on multiple devices that can easily communicate with each other over the Internet. The specific form factors listed in the training are phones, tablets, and netbooks.
The webOS platform seems like a compelling choice for a netbook. It would put the web front-and-center, much like Google's Chrome OS, but it would also provide a more complete computing experience out of the box—by supplying a baseline set of well-integrated applications and a stronger foundation for running local software. It also seems like a good candidate for HP to adopt as an instant-on companion operating system on its Windows-based notebooks.
HP has scheduled an event for February 9 at which the company is expected to disclose details about its webOS hardware roadmap. It's not clear yet what will be announced, but it's widely suspected that a tablet will surface at the event. It's possible that a netbook is also on the way.
