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HP says webOS coming to slates and web-connected printers
We joked about HP printers running webOS almost the second we learned about the Palm acquisition, but it turns out that's actually part of the plan: HP CEO Mark Hurd told analysts that webOS would hit a "variety of form factors, including slates and web-connected printers" on the company's Q2 financial results call today. webOS tablets were obviously a no-brainer, but printers are slightly more intriguing, in a way: while we're not overly surprised HP wants to leverage webOS on its line of advanced touchscreen printers, we're very curious to see what that actually looks like in practice -- a printer with Synergy-level Facebook integration for easy photo printing? A printer that can play 3D games like Need for Speed? A printer that can... multitask? The possibilities are amusingly endless, if you think about it -- and HP's printing and imaging division is a $6.4 billion dollar business, so the money and motivation to push this idea into strange new places are certainly there. Speaking of money, HP's doing just well on that front in general: profits were up 25 percent this quarter to $2.9 billion on total revenues of $30 billion, so yeah -- Palm certainly has the money and resources it's desperately needed. Now it just needs some new products and sharper execution.
