Onstage at HP's global partner summit in Las Vegas, while re-iterating the company's commitment to an open webOS, CEO Meg Whitman told the crowd she believes that there is still room in the market, stating:
"I think there is room for another operating system. iOS is great but it is a closed system. I think that Android may end up as a closed system because of [Google’s] relationship with Motorola."
While Whitman may be on to something that the Google Motorola merger has the potential to fundamentally change the nature of Android, it seems like quite a stretch to suggest it could lead to a closed OS. Also, while the enthusiast community has been having a great time with open webOS for the past couple of months, it's now just another open source platform competing for attention with a long list of competitors. Symbian's still around; there's Nokia's MeeGo, which the couldn't make a success of despite releasing a stellar device with the N9; and let's not forget runners-up Bada and Tizen, although the former may get folded into the latter. We'd love to see some newer webOS devices, but the market for mobile platforms is far from the three horse race Whitman evokes.