Rest in peace, webOS, we hardly know ye! HP announced today that "it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones." The company plans to seek out other ways to monetize the operating system and software, though exactly how is unclear at this time. Regardless, it won't be through their own devices moving forward.
This is a rather surprising move, considering the positive reviews webOS has received. Although, with the iPad and the iPhone continuing to dominate, the tablet market seems to belong to iOS. So, maybe it's not so surprising after all.
WebOS was introduced by Palm in January 2009 as the successor to Palm OS with Web 2.0 technologies, open architecture, and multitasking capabilities. The first webOS device was the original Palm Pre, released on Sprint in June 2009. In 2010, HP acquired Palm; webOS was described as a key asset and motivation for the purchase.
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LDMartin1959
August 18, 2011 at 2:56pm
HP is a company that has been in steep decline for years. For example, they (along with Canon, who made the StyleWriters for Apple) use to make some of the best Mac compatible printers around. Now, despite the fact that they are (to date) the only company supporting AirPrint, they make some of the most Mac unfriendly printers around--perhaps "Mac hostile" would be a better term for them. And their computers....merely adequate but loaded with crap-ware that is nearly impossible to get rid of. And their proprietary boot/restore system makes it nearly impossible to do anything with the OS (such as a clean upgrade or use another OS) other than use what came on it. At one time when I was selling systems I could recommend HP products. Now, I recommend everyone run away. The only thing they sill make half-way decent are laser printers, and they don't even make the guts of those, they buy them from folks like Canon.
All I can say about the TouchPad and webOS is that HP destroyed whatever potential those products may have had. And it will continue until they get someone running the company that has a clue. But that doesn't look likely.
mknauerii
August 18, 2011 at 1:03pm
from having a palm pre, which was an outstanding device, i feel that this is a big goof move on hp's part. the small market would probably have an uproar and have that community switch to iOS. good for apple.
