HP's Pitch To TouchPad Developers: We're Number One -- And Not Too Late

From Acer to ZTE, nearly every major PC and cellphone maker has released multiple tablets by now. HP, in contrast, is just now gearing up to launch its first WebOS-powered tablet, the TouchPad. (HP introduced a Windows 7-based tablet, the Slate 500, last October, but that device is already being phased out, according to the company.)

Given its late entry – and the importance of lining up compelling applications for any mobile device’s launch -- how is HP persuading developers to create apps for the TouchPad? Executives say they are reminding developers of the company’s heft and positing that HP is not, in fact, tardy to the tablet market.

“People who say we are too late; that’s a shortsighted and narrow-minded view,” said Richard Kerris, HP’s Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations, in an interview. Tablets are still a relatively new product category, explained Kerris. “There’s a long road ahead…at least 10 years of devices in this space,” he added.

HP also reasons that timing doesn’t matter as much when you’re the world’s largest technology company. “HP wasn’t the first to get into the PC business, but now it is the dominant player,” noted Kerris. “When HP gets behind something, things happen.”

The rest of HP’s developer pitch should be familiar to anyone who has been following HP Chief Executive Leo Apotheker’s comments about the company’s ambitions for WebOS. In March, Apotheker said HP aims to ship 100 million WebOS-enabled products a year, spanning smartphones, tablets, computers and printers.

Kerris reiterated that HP plans to bring WebOS to a “family” of mobile and non-mobile products. One team is assessing how WebOS could best be applied to HP laptops. (HP has yet to reveal how it will integrate WebOS into Windows PCs but has hinted it may run WebOS in a separate window or emulator on top of Windows.)

HP's more recent efforts to license WebOS to other device makers-- including, potentially, Samsung -- would also greatly increase the market for WebOS applications. “Developers are like everyone else: they want to maximize their opportunity and minimize their investment,” said Kerris. “We reassure them that HP will do big things with WebOS.”

The PC giant isn’t relying on words alone to lure developers. It has hosted a flurry of developer events in recent months. Kerris estimates that more than 400 developers have attended HP events over the past 45 days, in cities ranging from Berlin to London, Paris and Toronto.

Most of these developers are new to HP/Palm and WebOS, said Kerris. He calculates that 80% of the attendees have apps on other mobile platforms but consider WebOS “easy to add on” to their other work because WebOS is based on popular technologies like HTML5, JavaScript and CSS.

As further incentive, HP is extending a series of TouchPad discounts to developers. Anyone developing a TouchPad app can apply to get a device on loan or at a discount through HP. Developers with finished TouchPad apps can secure even larger discounts on the tablets. So-called “legacy” developers that previously made apps for Palm devices qualify for an additional discount, as well.

HP says its new tablet-specific apps magazine, Pivot, should also attract developers to WebOS. The magazine, which will be published on a regular basis for TouchPad owners, is designed to highlight noteworthy apps in an approachable way and is unique among mobile operating systems and app stores.

Kerris himself is a sign of HP’s focus on developers. HP poached him from the San Francisco production studio Lucasfilm in February to lead its developer efforts.