I'm not sure if this is such a bad strategy.. It seems that there's a race to have an appliance-like OS, and the web provides a quick and easy entry into this market.

The major challenge for Motorola is connecting their 'web os' (heh) to a functional store, or way of finding web applications for its users.

I anticipate that many, many more manufacturers are going to do the same.

If you take a look at the 'Chrome OS' thread, you'll see some examples that allude the the quality and capability that are possible with web applications. As browsers improve, more than 99% of common apps should be do-able on the web.

Like you, I'm skeptical about this course that Motorola has chosen, but I don't see it being a danger to their Android installation, but offers a tremendous opportunity to claim a stake on the upcoming web-warz.

They could have done without the press release...