Bought for $1.2bn, now being given away.
HP haas done what many expected, after its webOS hardware adventure came to a shuddering stop in August.
That was when it decided to abandon its short-lived Touchpad tablet and Pre smartphone. The decision threw the future of webOS into doubt, and prompted speculation that it would be bought by a variety of firms including Amazon, Samsung ands others.
HP suggested that it would find OEMs willing to build devices with webOS. That left open source as an option which, HP says, will "deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace".
Meg Whitman, CEO of HP, said: "By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices."
The decision gives webOS a window of opportunity to become an easy option for a mass of OEMs to get into the device space without having to team up with Google on Android.
Article continues belowAdvertisement
But it's a big ask, when iPad is so omnipotent and Microsoft waits around the corner with a platform that would play very strongly in the Windows-friendly enterprise space.
Add a new comment
You need to be logged in to post comments. If you do not have an account then please register.
Comments
0 comments
There are no comments yet, be the first to add one!