HP TouchPad developers: Microsoft wants you for Windows Phone 7

The HP TouchPad is enjoying a level of popularity it never had until it was discontinued and then dropped to $99 in price.

But Microsoft is hoping that, despite a sudden boom in the number of TouchPad users, it will be able to draft developers who made apps for the HP tablet and its WebOS operating system into making apps for Windows Phone 7.

“To Any Published WebOS Devs: We’ll give you what you need to be successful on #WindowsPhone, incl.free phones, dev tools, and training, etc.,” tweeted Brandon Watson, a Windows Phone evangelist for Microsoft.

Since sending out that call on Twitter over the weekend, Watson said he’s received more than 500 emails and about 1,000 responses from WebOS developers interested in making apps for Windows Phone 7.

“We have love for all developers. #webOS guys had a bit of a rough week though, so we’re looking out for them,” Watson said in another tweet.

WebOS isn’t dead yet, HP has insisted, even though HP’s WebOS hardware is being killed off, Jon Zilber, an HP spokesman, said in a company blog post Friday.

“Far from burying WebOS, our goal is to ensure the platform’s evolution as a robust operating system for an increasingly mobile and connected world,” Zilber said in defending the platform without mentioning what the future for WebOS holds.

On Monday, WebOS head Stephen DeWitt told website AllThingsD that HP still planned to put WebOS on its printers and its PCs -- the same PC business that HP is considering spinning off into a separate company or selling.

“Today we are the only ones making WebOS devices,” DeWitt said, seemingly forgetting that the company has stopped production of the TouchPad and WebOS phones and has yet to release a WebOS PC or printer. “What tomorrow will bring, that’s open to speculation.”