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HP Decides to Kill Off webOS Devices, May License OS

Aug 18, 2011, 2:23 PM by Eric M. Zeman
updated Aug 18, 2011, 2:27 PM

HP plans to exit the smartphone and tablet businesses and will cease creating new devices based on webOS, which it acquired last year when it bought Palm. HP said in a statment, "HP plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward." HP is also exploring the sale of its Personal Systems Group, which is responsible for its consumer and business computing devices. Palm debuted the first webOS smartphone, the Pre, in January 2009. It reached the market in June of that year. It was followed by several more webOS-based phones, including the Pixi, Pre Plus, and Pre 2. HP announced the Pre 3 earlier this year, but today's news suggests that it will never be sold. webOS was masterminded by Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein, brought in from Apple to revive Palm's flagging smartphone business. webOS was a complete break from Palm's previous mobile platforms.

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Comments

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This forum is closed.

thevorlon

Aug 27, 2011, 9:56 PM

Apotheker does not care how HP ends up.

Apotheker is using HP as a means to stick it to Oracle after SAP (Apotheker's former company) was forced to pay more than a billion dollars for illegal use of Oracle software.
I think that he will drive HP into the ground if HP's board doesn't wake up soon...

thevorlon

And, considering HP's own servers crashed while selling their own product, what company would want to use them to handle their commerce?

Chizzle

Aug 20, 2011, 3:43 PM

The people that do wrong seem to live forever

O/S2 was FAR superior to windows but died off..support issue
and now webOS. its was awsome for tablets. and on paper is far superior to Android.
I was able to get a tablet for $99 today tho and regret not using webOS more.
🤭

Slammer

I've been a huge advocate for WebOS since its inception. My Wife and I both had pre's. The hardware was the big draw back. We have since switched to Android. We enjoy the Android platform, but WebOS was simply far more gratifying in the UI operation.
...
(continues)

Daniel Dc5

Aug 18, 2011, 2:37 PM

This is good news

It is very sad to see how badly it has done.

famoussasjohn

I think the OS is better suited for tablets..just applications were pretty much non existent.

...

Omagus

Less competition is hardly ever good news for consumers.

Snapper314

I had the chance to extensively use a new/upcoming webOS device (Pre) and I was not at all impressed.

While the hardware wasn't that good, it was the webOS interface that I found horrible. It was lightyears behind Android and IOS in terms of the u...
(continues)

...

iDont Care

Aug 18, 2011, 6:56 PM

Told you so...

Now is not the time to crying over spilled milk. We got Ice Cream Sandwich, iOS 5 and WP7 Mango on the horizon with new handsets to boot!

webOS' fate was doomed from the beginning. Palm was just too little too late. It was an outstanding OS but just poorly executed. It wasn't just the hardware either. The market was just too crowded and Android really took off. Had only Palm released the Pre before the G1 and put it on a bigger carrier such as Verizon. Cause Sprint was not the right way to go. They had the worst marketing. Lots of things went wrong and Palm made bad decisions. Just too bad.

As an Android user, I can only hope that Google will take some cues from webOS and implement into further Android releases.

T Bone

There is no such thing as 'too late', the problem actually is that Palm alienated their users by radically changing their operating system, many Palm users took one look at WebOs and said 'what the hell is this, it's not Palm OS' and then moved on to ...
(continues)

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mkl4466

Aug 19, 2011, 10:41 PM

make it an overlay

Here's what needs to happen. HP should release webOS to any manufacturerwho will use it. I'm thinking LG would be a prime candidate. They could take webOS and turn it into an interface overlay to run on their android devices. This would keep the look and feel of webOS alive, which is what people loved about it in the first place, while allowing it to access the biggest competitive edge android has going for it: the apps, lack of which was a serious downfall for webOS devices. LG makes all sorts of electronics and appliances. By incorporating webOS into other things besides phones, such as tvs, fridges, washers, dryers, anything and everything LG makes, they could be a great partner for HP to bring their goal of using webOS on an ecosystem of...
(continues)

bluecoyote

Aug 18, 2011, 3:40 PM

Perfect opportunity for HTC

Given HTC's bread and butter OS's now have preferred hardware manufacturers, now would be a great time for HTC to swoop in and purchase webOS.

Jolei9786

Very true. Especially after Google just bitchslapped HTC with the Motorola purchase. C'mon, HTC...you know you want it!

...

T Bone

I like WebOS, but honestly, two companies have failed to make it successful, what does HTC have that Palm and HP do not? A good product, yes, but apparently one without much market appeal.

...

Sisyphus

This is indeed a perfect time for HTC to buy WebOS, if they want to shoot themselves in the foot.

While WebOS is a fantastic product to those that are in the know, general public perception doesn't understand that. People are not going to buy a ...
(continues)

WirelessVet

Aug 18, 2011, 2:46 PM

Sad...

Hardware was webOS's doom. If the pre hadn't of been such a POS from the hardware perspective, it really could have done quite well and not have scared every developer off, IMO.

🤨

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