LG Electronics has acquired the software and intellectual property rights for webOS from HP. HP acquired webOS developer Palm for roughly $1.2 billion back in April 2012. After creating new smartphones and tablets using webOS, HP stopped making them due to weak sales. So HP decided to open source the operating system in December 2011.
In April 2010, HP acquired Palm for $1.2 billion. About a year later, HP was forced to write off $1.66 billion to wind down the webOS business. In between that time, HP attempted to build smartphones and tablets using Palm’s webOS software. The market was not receptive to the HP-Palm products so HP decided to make webOS open source. One year later, the webOS community has created Open webOS. It turns out that Open webOS has been successfully ported over to the Google Nexus 7 tablet. The porting was done by Open webOS developer Simon “morphis” Busch.
After Hewlett Packard acquired Palm, the company went through several different iterations about what to do with the company. The HP TouchPad did not do as well as hoped so the company suspended tablet manufacturing. The future of webOS looked uncertain until the company decided to make the platform open source.
Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) has decided to make webOS open source. HP plans to continue and will be active in the development of webOS, but the company is hoping that the community will help improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices.
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According to PreCentral, Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) CEO Meg Whitman will be calling an all-hands meeting later today to make a final decision on webOS. There are only about four possible scenarios coming out of this meeting: a.) webOS will be killed off b.) They will keep webOS and focus more on mobile development c.) Try to find another buy for Palm / webOS d.) Postpone the decision again. My guess is that HP spent so much time, energy, and money investing in webOS that they will not just kill it off. My best guess is that they will keep it, but may not focus as much on using webOS technology as they have in the past with the development of the TouchPad. I have a feeling that they will just keep it on the back-burner given that the company’s core business is still PC manufacturing and enterprise IT. [PreCentral]
When Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) acquired Palm in April 2010, the company said that they are planning to “double down” on the webOS operating system. Now that is proving to be a very costly mistake.
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Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) has announced that developers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe will have a chance to buy a 32GB HP TouchPad for $150 or €150 in Europe for a limited time and while supplies last. It is unknown how many TouchPads are available for sale, but HP is allowing applicants to request up to two TouchPads at the discounted price. Anyone who is interested would have to apply by November 18th. If they receive an acceptance, then the coupon will have to be redeemed before November 27th. Visit the Palm Device Developer program website for more details. [Engadget]
Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) CEO Leo Apotheker was replaced by Meg Whitman last month. One of the reasons why Apotheker resigned was because investors thought he was crazy for considering to spin off the company’s PC division. The board of directors at Hewlett Packard including Whitman has decided that they will be keeping their PC division.
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