HP Opens Up WebOS

HP TouchPad running Palm's WebOS operating system.
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Updated 5:15 pm ET, Friday, December 9

Hewlett-Packard has finally stopped dithering and decided what to do with its costly acquisition of device-maker Palm and the associated WebOS mobile operating system: Let developers deal with it.

On Friday, HP announced it won’t be selling WebOS to anyone, as was earlier speculated. But it won’t be doubling-down on the software, either. Instead, HP has chosen to take a risky half-measure, a “Third Way” of sorts, making WebOS open source — i.e., turning the software’s source code over to independent and third-party developers.

“HP will make the underlying code of webOS available under an open source license,” HP explained in a news release. “Developers, partners, HP engineers and other hardware manufacturers can deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace.”

While that sounds all fine and dandy, given that Google’s Android is also an open source mobile software platform and now a roaring success, HP does seem to be attempting gracefully wash its hands of WebOS, effectively saying that the company won’t be making any more WebOS devices like the maligned, overpriced, TouchPad tablet, which became an underdog success when its price was slashed dramatically in August.

As HP elaborated in an FAQ about its Web OS decision Friday, answering the question “Will HP begin making webOS devices again?”:

As webOS gains traction as an open source alternative in the marketplace, you could see webOS on several different types of devices by any number of vendors.

We will explore the viability of putting webOS on devices, just as we do for other leading operating systems.

While not an outright confirmation that HP is giving up making WebOS devices, “That’s probably as close as we’re going to get to HP admitting that it’s closing the book on its ill-fated involvement in webOS hardware and looking to fresher pastures,” the Verge reported.

Still, the company endeavored to put a positive spin on the whole maneuver, noting that it would continue to make software updates available to current WebOS users and offering the somewhat vaguer platitude that it would “remain active in the development and support of webOS.”

“webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable,” said new HP CEO Meg Whitman in a statement. “By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”

Developers and bloggers have been substantially less receptive to the news.

“HP will likely still follow-up the news with more layoffs from its webOS group,” VentureBeat‘s Devindra Hardawar pointed out. “After all, with help from the open source community, HP won’t need as many bodies on board to push the platform forward.”

“The more likely scenario is that WebOS turns into a fragmented mess,” theorized paidContent’s Tom Krazit.

“But will anyone build anything that runs on it?” asked PC Magazine‘s Sascha Segan.

Still, there’s no denying the move marks a drastic shift away from the HP of just a few months ago, then lead by CEO Leo Apotheker, who moved to kill WebOS and its associated devices and spin-off HP’s most identifiable business, its PC-making Personal Systems Group, in favor of pursuing the enterprise software market — even going so far as to acquire Autonomy Corp. for $12 billion in August.

After being ousted by shareholders in September, Apotheker was replaced by former eBay CEO and California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, who’s basically attempted to reverse or mitigate all of Apotheker’s costly decisions, while taking as little as possible in the way of monetary damage.

We’ve reached out to HP for more substantial information on what the company plans to do so far as WebOS hardware is concerned.

Late update: The Verge‘s Josh Topoloky has scored an interview with HP CEO Meg Whitman in which she confirms that the company “will use webOS in new hardware, but it’s just going to take us a little longer to reorganize the team in a quite different direction than we’ve been taking it in the past.”

Specifically, Whitman says that HP will probably, but not definitely be making new WebOS tablets but probably not any new smartphones.

Second late update: Michael Thacker, HP’s head of global media relations, responded to TPM’s inquiry, saying that although there wasn’t “anything incorrect” in Whitman’s interview with The Verge, it is also important to note that the WebOS hardware division is “where it was in August,” back when HP announced that it was “shutting down operations for Web OS devices.

“We’re not ruling out WebOS hardware devices,” Thacker told TPM, “We’re just looking for ways to maximize the value of the software. We are making a significant investment from a software perspective, not an overall company material perspective.”

Thacker also responded to our questions about potential layoffs in the WebOS group, saying the company hasn’t “made any organizational or staff announcements,” yet.

Thacker said that the webOS software source code and applications framework would be made available on HP’s webOS developer blog, though he said there wasn’t a defined timeframe.

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