HP decides it IS going to venture into the smartphone market

CEOs are a weird bunch, pushed for comments on what avenues their company is going to be pursuing in the near future, only for the very company they are representing to retract their statement and switch positions immediately.

Enter HP CEO Mark Hurd. Quoted at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch technology conference stating; “We didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business” and “We bought it for the IP” will almost definitely prompt analysts and bloggers to assume the company has categorically ruled out any future forays into the smartphone market.

Yeah, we all got it wrong – what Hurd meant to say was that we can expect HP to implement WebOS into a number of different web-connected devices including tablets, printers and smartphones.

Engadget grabbed a full statement from HP:

When we look at the market, we see an array of interconnected devices, including tablets, printers, and of course, smartphones. We believe webOS can become the backbone for many of HP’s small form factor devices, and we expect to expand webOS’s footprint beyond just the smartphone market, all while leveraging our financial strength, scale, and global reach to grow in smartphones.

We wonder if somebody somewhere is slapping the back of Mark Hurd’s hand.