Secrets never stay secret very long at HP, but this sounds more like a secret they want known.

HP is moving its webOS gang into a new semi-autonomous company called GRAM.

webOS Nation broke the story after it got its hands on a flyer and an internal e-mail penned late last week after an all-hands meeting by HP chief of staff
Martin Risau, who's been responsible for the webOS Global Business Unit.



It says that webOS operation under Gram is "no longer a consumer hardware brand, we are a different company with focus on software, user experience,
cloud, engineering and partnering."

It's called an "incubation company" and a "start-up." It's supposed to be in stealth mode on its product offering.

Risaeu tells the team to wear Gram's stylized butterfly logo to build momentum but keep mum about what's really going on - presuming they
know - "to give it time to take root and grow."

Whatever it is, it's supposed to leverage webOS, its Enyo JavaScript framework, the cloud and partners to "create a technology that will unleash
the power of the web."

It's supposed to be "potent, light and nimble" and "at the core of all things big and small."

Perhaps it's a reprise of that Apotheker-era idea of making webOS ubiquitous in hardware although webOS Nation expects webOS to only play
a small part in whatever Gram's mission is.

Here's the flyer:

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all of your enthusiasm at yesterday's new
brand announcement: GRAM. We hope you will fall in love
with the brand just as lots of us have already.

Please note that our Mission, Values and Plan of Action
are the same. We are continuing to march forward on our
timelines as usual-nothing new there.

We have much work to do, and, again, I solicit your help.

Yes, this is a new brand-it is just the beginning, and there
is so much more to do. And yet unveiling the new brand is
also a Call to Action:

Try it on. We don't expect you to love it overnight. We are
no longer a consumer hardware brand, we are a different
company with focus on software, User Experience, Cloud,
engineering and partnering. This change in identity will take
some getting used to and that's normal.

Stealth mode. We are an incubation company, and we are
trusting you to keep this company name and product under
the radar to give it time to take root and grow. You can wear
the logo, help build the momentum of the new identity, talk
to your families and friends about it. If someone from the
outside asks, you can say, "GRAM is a new company. We are
in stealth mode on our product offering."

Tap your network. Help us hire the best and the brightest,
refer your friends and help us in our shared purpose as we
continue our rise to the top. You can use the name to help
us to recruit.

Be the culture. Spread our Values: People Matter. Integrity
and Trust. Deliberate Innovation. Act small, deliver big.

For those of you who could not attend yesterday's unveiling
- we really missed you. Please be on the lookout for the gift
bags with our new cool branded items, which we be mailing
out to you this and next week. All of you should get one, if
not - let me know.

Best

Martin

webOS Nation says Gram will be headquartered in building 3 of the old Palm campus in Sunnyvale and away from HP central.

Perhaps Gram will have something to say when the webOS team finishes with Open webOS 1.0 next month.

Presumably HP is trying to justify its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm and its subsequent "should-have-been-a-contender" failure in tablets, but as a spin-
off Gram can presumably bring in investment from the outside so an already stretched HP isn't stuck with the whole tab.