WebOS Still Alive And Breathing, HP Says
HP's announcement Sunday to discontinue operations for webOS caught many people by surprise—customers and even some HP executives alike. Though customers were excited to hear of the TouchPad's price drop to $99 from $399, the impending demise of the once promising operating system left concerns as to whether webOS would ever again see the light of day.
After purchasing the webOS technology from a struggling Palm in 2010, hopes rose of webOS's return from obscurity. But, those dreams were short lived as HP-branded webOS devices faced launch delays coupled with lackluster hardware once finally in the market.
To assuage growing concerns, webOS Global Business Unit VP Stephen DeWitt reassured HP employees during an “all-hands meeting” that the company has no plans of “walking away from webOS” and still intends to license it to other hardware developers, though some hurdles would have to be cleared before any serious talks can begin.
From This Is My Next:
In response to a direct question about licensing to HTC or Samsung, HP VP Todd Bradley pointed out that, to date, webOS is designed to work on a single set of silicon — Qualcomm — and that many potential licensees would likely want to see webOS support other chipsets. He did not elaborate further on potential partners.
In not so reassuring news, Dewitt continued in the meeting adding there would be staff reductions in the department all the while bringing to the attention that “trying to force non-competitive products into the market” had to be stopped if the webOS were to succeed in the market.
Though the future of webOS is not certain, it's evident as per HP's announcement the company will refocus its efforts away from PCs and hardware to its more lucrative enterprise division.
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