Company looking to license its software, but will developers keep the faith?
webOS is dead. Long live... webOS? HP has hit back at reports that its mobile and tablet OS is on its last legs, following last week's decision to kill off the devices running it.
Quoting Mark Twain's famous 'The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated' quip, HP's Jon Zilber published a blog post claiming that canning the devices was actually an effort to keep webOS going strong.
"HP has made these tough decisions to ensure that our efforts with webOS remain tightly focused," he writes. "Far from burying webOS, our goal is to ensure the platform's evolution as a robust operating system for an increasingly mobile and connected world... We intend to enhance the platform as we explore the options for webOS in today's marketplace."
Meanwhile, HP's developer relations boss Richard Kerris penned a separate message to webOS developers, asking for them to keep faith in "the next chapter for webOS". He continued:
"While this was a difficult decision, it’s one that will strengthen our ability to focus on further innovating with webOS as we forge our path forward. Throughout this journey, our developers will continue to be a vital part of the future of webOS. We will continue to support, innovate and develop the webOS App Catalog. Our intent is to enhance our merchandising and presentation of your great products and to continue to build our webOS app ecosystem."
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Will developers stick with it? On the one hand, HP's decision to pull out of the device game - and the uncertainty surrounding whether it plans to license the software to other mobile and tablet makers - could lead many developers to dump the platform and focus on, say, Windows Phone.
However, one possible reason not to jump ship just yet is HP's fire sale of the TouchPad, which has been reduced to as little as $99 in the US over the weekend to shift remaining stock.
That could see hundreds of thousands of TouchPads in the hands of consumers, and provide a reason for developers to keep supporting them with apps - as long as HP follows through on its promise to "enhance" its merchandising and presentation of those apps.
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