webOS Decision Expected From HP in Just Weeks
HP will announce its decision over webOS within the next few weeks says company CEO Meg Whitman.
Hewlett-Packard’s new CEO Meg Whitman said during an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro that the company will make a decision about webOS within the next few weeks. The news follows a recent announcement made by Whitman that the company will retain its PC division instead of spinning it off as a separate entity or selling it outright to a third-party manufacturer.
"We should announce our decision in the next two weeks," she told the paper in regards to webOS. "This is not an easy decision, because we have a team of 600 people which is in limbo. We need to have another operating system."
This is HP's first mention of the doomed OS in over three weeks. Back on November 8, Whitman told a room full of Palm and HP employees that the company had no idea what it plans to do with the software. That's unfortunate to say the least given that HP paid out $1.2 billion in its acquisition of Palm and its then-still-alive operating system.
"It's really important to me to make the right decision, not the fast decision," she told the group. "If HP decides [to keep webOS], we're going to do it in a very significant way over a multi-year period. It's a very expensive proposition, but HP can make that bet."
She added that the "economics of this business are tough," and that she needs extra time to determine whether HP should dump more funds in webOS at great cost, or if "there's another way to create that ecosystem."
HP had high hopes for webOS when it first launched the TouchPad tablet in July 2011. But the device failed to gain any market share, thus pushing HP to discontinue the tablet and additional webOS device development several weeks later. The TouchPad didn't become popular until HP reduced its price to $99 for the 16 GB model and $149 for the 32 GB model in a brief fire sale.
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jacobdrj HP is dumb... No matter what they decide, they have already failed with it...Reply
Should have made an app eco-system. Should have made nice with developers.
I hope MS learned and can still make WP7 a success with continued support and product integration with the rest of their portfolio... -
chomlee WebOs will go down in history as one of those products that was superior to the competition but yet was marketed very poorly and as a result failed. There is a part of me that hopes HP will make something of this, but my confidence is very low on that one.Reply -
gsacks I am very happy with my 32GB Touchpad for $150. With the recommended tweaks to streamline the OS and turn off all the performance-sucking logging, and overclock (un-underclock actually) the CPU, it runs great. Has a good web browser, and with spashtop or PlayOn etc, it can play pretty much any media. I couldn't be happier. HP is still a train-wreck though.Reply -
CaedenV jacobdrjHP is dumb... No matter what they decide, they have already failed with it... Should have made an app eco-system. Should have made nice with developers. I hope MS learned and can still make WP7 a success with continued support and product integration with the rest of their portfolio...Not all is lost on webOS yet. With good leadership (which may or may not be provided by Ms. eBay) there is still time to better develop the eco system around webOS. The problem is that they would have to do it quickly before MS comes out with win8 ARM next year.Reply -
captaincharisma i though they officially announced that months ago. too bad they didn't kill there PC line though to save the world from shoddy computersReply -
FlayerSlayer WebOS = Betamax. Superior to the alternatives, but mismanaged and killed. Stupid HP.Reply -
captaincharisma 9330022 said:WebOS = Betamax. Superior to the alternatives, but mismanaged and killed. Stupid HP.
yea superior for sure
Palm couldn't sell anything with it and now HP couldn't until they sould it for peanuts
yea very superior
FAIL
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cptnjarhead I love WebOS but the OS does not! sell phones, features and apps do.Reply
People want big screens and tons of apps, even if 80% of the apps are crap!
I will use my pre2 until it dies. Maybe WP7/8, mango seems to be heading in the right direction.