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HP Moves WebOS From PC Group: What Next?

Posted by timothy on from the management-usually-has-the-upper-outhouse dept.

GMGruman writes "Over the weekend, HP execs posted statements announcing the transfer of WebOS from the PC group that produced the now-killed TouchPad tablet and other mobile devices to HP's Office of Strategy and Technology. Is that a new lifeline for WebOS? Or, as analyst Trip Chowdhry suggested, is WebOS a pawn in a Shakespearean corporate game by HP CEO Léo Apotheker?"

5 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. New Theory: by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As best I can tell, HP's actions at this point can be most accurately modeled by assuming that somebody accidentally let an Eliza chatbot into an MBA program, and then handed it the reins...

    1. Re:New Theory: by MrEricSir · · Score: 4, Funny

      At this point? That happened nearly two decades ago.

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    2. Re:New Theory: by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 4, Funny

      Can you elaborate on that?

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    3. Re:New Theory: by syousef · · Score: 4, Insightful

      At this point? That happened nearly two decades ago.

      Carly was only there from 1999-2005.

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  2. Rumors by Mensa+Babe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, according to Wikipedia, HP's Office of Strategy and Technology has four main functions: (1) steering the company's $3.6 billion research and development investment, (2) fostering the development of the company's global technical community, (3) leading the company's strategy and corporate development efforts, and (4) performing worldwide corporate marketing activities. Under this office is HP Labs, the research arm of HP. Founded in 1966, HP Labs's function is to deliver new technologies and to create business opportunities that go beyond HP's current strategies. An example of recent HP Lab technology includes the Memory spot chip. HP IdeaLab further provides a web forum on early-state innovations to encourage open feedback from consumers and the development community.

    It is hard to say at this point what could it mean to WebOS but I've heard rumors about some experiments with Android at HP. Some speculate that HP is thinking about making the WebOS just a thin UI layer on top of Android, just like Mac OS X did with UNIX. It may seem strange at first but after thinking about it for a while it could be the only way that HP could survive in the not so distant future after the Apple-Google war is over and still have original software advantage without the hassle to develop and maintain the entire operating system stack.

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