What's next for webOS tablets?
After the heartbreaking news that HP is killing off all of its webOS hardware, you've gotta be wondering what's next for webOS. HP has stated that it will be looking for partners to go forward with webOS hardware, but we have no idea what that means. Who are its partners? What are they making? When can I get my hands on whatever it is they're making?
Unfortunately for us, those answers won't be coming any time soon. So in the meantime, what is going to happen to webOS? What about the hardware products that are already out? Click on past the break to find out my opinions.
I can't say for sure what's going to be happening over at HP/Palm's headquarters over the next few weeks, but what I can say for sure is that a lot of people are going to lose their jobs because of it. HP even said so today.
That sucks, of course, but it doesn't really have much impact on consumers. I'm pretty sure the people HP is letting go are hardware designers, and have nothing to do with software. And since HP is totally getting out of webOS hardware manufacturing, your scardiness shouldn't be coming from HP getting out of webOS software development, which isn't happening.
In fact, HP has also stated that it wants to try to get some hardware partners who will license webOS. My guess is that they'll go straight towards Samsung first, since that company is in love with licensing operating systems from all sorts of companies. If they can't hook Samsung, then I think they'll have a tough time trying to get anybody else on board.
HTC, Motorola, and LG all seem to have pretty good relationships with the companies they're already dealing with. I guess I could see HTC going in, but they've already got so much invested into Android that it probably wouldn't be viable for them. I'm thinking specifically of Sense, and I don't know if webOS is very customizable, or if it would even be allowed under licensing agreements.
Anyway, I think it's completely safe to say that HP has made a decision that probably will turn out for the worse. I mean, let's be real: unless they can get a lot of major licensing agreements with some major companies, webOS and the $1.2 billion HP spent on Palm will have been flushed down the toilet.
