It's been a while since we've seen a new smartphone from HP, and according to a new statement from CEO Meg Whitman, that won't be changing any time soon. While speaking at an analyst event yesterday, Whitman said that HP doesn't "have any plans to introduce a smartphone in 2013," reports ComputerWorld U.K. The executive did recognize the need for HP to get into the game, though, saying that HP must start thinking about what it's "unique play" will be and that, if her company doesn't have a smartphone or similar device in five years, HP will "be locked out of a huge segment of the population in many countries of the world."

This new statement from HP CEO Meg Whitman comes less than a month after she said that HP must "ultimately offer a smartphone because in many countries of the world that is your first computing device." That got many folks excited about the prospect of new HP hardware, but it appears that we'll be waiting a while for anything like that to materialize. That's definitely a bit of a disappointment, but hey, at least Open webOS is now officially available and can be tinkered with to keep folks busy in the mean time. Do any of you think you'd be interested in a new HP smartphone whenever one does finally arrive?

UPDATE: In other HP news, The Powerbase has discovered that the company has put up over 50 listings for jobs in both Shanghai and Sunnyvale, all of which are looking for people to work on webOS. There are positions open for designers, engineers and managers, and they rank from internships up to senior levels.

Via The Verge, ComputerWorld U.K., TechCrunch, The Powerbase, HP