What can you do with an HP webOS-powered printer?

Sam wrote earlier about the latest HP earnings report and one thing that was interesting from the analysts call was that HP is looking to take Palm's webOS to slates and printers. Yes, you read that correctly, we can expect a webOS-powered printer in the future from HP. At first glance you may be asking why in the world they would do such a thing, but based on my experiences with Palm webOS and trying out the HP Photosmart web-enabled printer at the store with a full color touchscreen and cool user interface I can actually see value in this for HP.

On the HP Photosmart printer I tried out my daughter and I were able to print out coloring book pages, create directions and print out Google Maps, search for movie times and even order tickets, and more. Palm's webOS is one of the slickest, most intuitive mobile operating systems and it actually seems quite natural to me that HP would take this UI to their printer line to significantly enhance their printer products. Imagine using pinch to zoom in a photo editor, print out Google Maps directions, check your contacts or schedule with Palm's Synergy and print out data you want to physically share with someone, check out a New York Times article and print it, and more. HP can take what they learned on their current web-enabled printer and get even more out of it with a solid mobile OS with a growing list of applications.