Not all that long ago we talked about HP’s decision to pretty much kill off its WebOS platform and with it the HP TouchPad. Right after those announcements we saw the HP TouchPad prices drop down to $100 in some cases. There was a rush on them and people ran out to get them. Well now, thanks to precentral.net we are finding out a little more about what HP has in mind. It seems that the WebOS development team is heading to the Office of Strategic Technology while the hardware side gets left with the Personal Systems Group.
Of course these items lead to interesting questions. With WebOS going to the Strategic Technology Office will it end up being licensed out as a product on its own? Will we see the new owners of the TouchPad hardware (and the rest of the Personal Systems Group) buy this software from HP’s core business?
We do have some insight into the whys of this event, but the final outcome of everything is not clear. HP needed to do this to help prevent some liabilities that come from selling both hardware and software (that they own and license). But, what on earth does HP plan to do once this is all over? We know they do not have the moxie to go head to head with IBM (which appears to be who they are modeling themselves after) so why the shift and the drop of the consumer side of their company?
We will continue to see if we can find out some more solid answers than what is available at the moment. If you want to read the documents that appear to say this is going happen click the source link below.
Source precentral.net
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