HP releases WebOS to open source developers

The HP TouchPad.  Source: HP

HP has recently announced that they'll be contributing the WebOS software to the open source community.   “By contributing this innovation," CEO Meg Whitman says, "HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”

To which most fans of WebOS likely responded, "Finally."

Palm's WebOS was much beloved by many of its users, but due to lackluster hardware in phones like the Pre and Pre Plus compared to Android and iOS phones, the software never really gained traction.  When HP bought Palm earlier last year for a cool $1.2 billion, WebOS fans hoped this would mean an infusion of cash and resources that would save the operating system.  HP sold the HP Veer on AT&T for a while and came out with a tablet, the TouchPad, but that lasted less than two unsuccessful months before being sold off in a firesale.  The future of WebOS looked dim at this point.

However, if you check out the Palm HP WebOS developers blog, this announcement has gotten people excited.  HP has committed to staying involved with the development of WebOS too.  While other companies will be able to use the software on their own hardware for free now, this could mean HP is hoping to release some new WebOS products themselves, whether it's connected printers or another smartphone.

This is much better for the fate of WebOS than HP hoarding the technology, but with Android and iOS dominating the market, and Microsoft investing heavily in Windows 8 and Windows Phone, is there still room for WebOS?  Guess we'll have to see what the open source community can do with it now that this is all out there.

HP gives up and slashes price on TouchPad, considers spinning off PSG, still insists WebOS is not dead

Though it was no surprise HP's webOS tablet was not selling well, HP's decision to give up on it and essentially abandon the operating system they paid $1.2 billion for less than a year and a half ago was a lot less expected.  The TouchPad (pictured above at a liquidation ready $99, or about 20% of what it originally retailed at) sold so poorly that several days ago Best Buy reportedly had sold only 25,000 out of about 270,000 that it stocked initially.  This was about a month and a half after the TouchPad debuted, and just a day or two before the fire sale currently underway.

According to an interview given Engadget, Stephen DeWitt, the head of HP's webOS global business unit, made clear that the decision to ax the TouchPad "doesn't mean -- in any way, shape or form, at all -- that we are abandoning webOS."   However, HP has made it clear they've lost all interest in the consumer market, since at the same time they have revealed they intend to spin off the Personal Systems Group (PSG), which is responsible for making the laptops and desktops that, besides printers, most consumers know them for.

If you're looking for the HP TouchPad at that $99 price - hey, it's good hardware for the value, even if the OS is being largely abandoned - you can take a look here to see when it will be back in stock.