"Think big. Think small. Think beyond," says HP in this announcement that went out to media a few days ago touting an "exciting WebOS announcement." Everyone, of course, is busy parsing the messsage to get any kind of clue about what it could be teasing. Given that we know HP intends to release a tablet running WebOS in the next year, "think big" is obviously referring to that. But "think small?" "Think beyond?"
Some in the media are expecting a single phone offering, and the use and the use of the word "small" made many observers think of the recent HP trademark filings for the words "Gyst," "Myte," and "Veer." The Myte was singled out as a possible name for a Pixi successor of sorts, since there have been rumors of a Pixi successor debuting and being dubbed "the smallest smartphone yet." It is likely this phone will be unveiled, but don't expect it to be the only phone they announce. There's no way HP would be foolish enough to go with a small phone as their only option for consumers, after all the heat they've taken for the Pre being an undersized device with a low-resolution screen. Expect at least two, possible more phones at this event.
Finally, we "think beyond." In all likelihood HP just needed something to round out the catchphrase, but they probably will discuss the direction of WebOS going forward in terms of the OS itself and other devices (printers!) it will be used in. It is notable that the invitation didn't include any Palm branding, so they may address the end of the Palm brand as Palm finally get assimilated into HP. Either way, we'll find out on February 9th. In the meantime, check out the current state of WebOS and Palm hardware in our Pre 2 review!