HP: WebOS devices are dead

[gsaldivar]

I wonder if they plan on offering refunds to Deadpad buyers

At best they might offer a trade-in credit, but I wouldn't hold my breath for any type of refund.

 

[Stang289]

I guess I can stop waiting on the Pre 3. I am eligible for a new phone at Verizon, so I better start researching LTE Android phones. Any advice?

 

[Sheep]

LOL there are STILL people in the PreCentral forums holding out hope and suggesting that this isn't bad news even after reading the press releases about HP killing off webOS devices.

Uncle Leo could go and shoot them in the face with a shotgun and they still wouldn't get a reality clue.

 

[s44]

I guess I can stop waiting on the Pre 3. I am eligible for a new phone at Verizon, so I better start researching LTE Android phones. Any advice?

See if a SGS2 LTE is announced next Friday. Otherwise, the Bionic releases in a month.

 

[Pliablemoose]

LOL there are STILL people in the PreCentral forums holding out hope and suggesting that this isn't bad news even after reading the press releases about HP killing off webOS devices.

Uncle Leo could go and shoot them in the face with a shotgun and they still wouldn't get a reality clue.

After looking at what his face's tweet, it looks like they want to sell off WebOS, not license it.

GoGo Samsung or HTC...

 

[smartpatrol]

After looking at what his face's tweet, it looks like they want to sell off WebOS, not license it.

GoGo Samsung or HTC...

That tweet seemed pretty ambiguous whether they want to sell off webOS or merely license it. Anyway I'd really love to see Samsung or HTC buy it. They're probably the only ones with a big enough presence in the smartphone market to make webOS a success.

With the luck webOS has, though, it'll probably get bought by someone like Dell and get further flushed down the toilet.

 

[SAWYER]

Maybe RIM will buy WebOS lol

 

[tonygeor]

$1.2 billion down the drain HP

 

[Sheep]

After looking at what his face's tweet, it looks like they want to sell off WebOS, not license it.

GoGo Samsung or HTC...

Anyone who believes anything positive a Palm/HP exec says about webOS at this point has to be mentally ill. They're still dangling carrots to keep people who bought the hardware from completely revolting, just like they've been doing for years now.

 

[gsaldivar]

Anyone who believes anything a Palm/HP exec says about webOS at this point has to be mentally ill.

This.

HP Dismisses Rumors Regarding Its PC Business ... Bill Wohl, HP senior vice president and chief communications officer: "Irresponsible reporting by Taiwan's Commercial Times, suggesting that HP might sell its PC business, should be dismissed as market rumor and speculation. HP runs the world's largest PC business and it is core to HP’s strategy for the connected world..."

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2011/110310c.html

 

[Pliablemoose]

Anyone who believes anything positive a Palm/HP exec says about webOS at this point has to be mentally ill. They're still dangling carrots to keep people who bought the hardware from completely revolting, just like they've been doing for years now.

Agreed 🙁

 

[amdhunter]

Holy crap. That came out of nowhere...lol
I'll pick one up as soon as it hits $99.

 

[tuan209]

why would anyone buy webOS?

Samsung and HTC would make sense, but they dont really have a good track record of developing good software. Just look at Touchwiz and Sense.

 

[kaerflog]

It was as bad as Sprint buyin Nextel.
The 2 aren't compatible.
Nokia or Samsung should have bought webOS.
At least they are experts in hardware.
As soon as I was HP come out with the Pre3, I knew it was going to tank.
You got 2 failures in Pre and Pre2 so lets make 2 bigger version in Pre3.
Genius people at HP.....

 

[SAWYER]

The hardcore at precentral

 

[Slick5150]

ARGHHHHHHHHHH!

(shakes fist at HP)

REALLY makes me wish someone that knows what they're doing had bought Palm. Ridiculous. A nice FU to the people that picked up a Touchpad in the past couple weeks on sale.

 

[SAWYER]

And it begins on my local cl
http://memphis.craigslist.org/sys/2554022238.html

 

[Trader05]

If you purchased the Touchpad @ Staples during the sale, you have up to 14 days to return it. Staples Easy Returns FTW

 

[ViRGE]

Looks like the plan is for HP to license WebOS.

http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2011/0...-is-looking-for-a-hardware-partner-for-webos/

This makes sense to me, I can see it being an awesome OS with a bit of tweaking.

Why would anyone want to just license it though? That means HP remains in charge of development; what does that get you exactly? And if you're HP you have all the costs of developing the OS but none of the profit from selling finished devices.

Nothing short of a sale makes sense for anyone in the industry.

 

[Cogman]

ARGHHHHHHHHHH!

(shakes fist at HP)

REALLY makes me wish someone that knows what they're doing had bought Palm. Ridiculous. A nice FU to the people that picked up a Touchpad in the past couple weeks on sale.

When HP bought Palm, Palm was literally doing nothing. They were not developing jack. HP by and large let the Palm team do their own thing while providing the funding and means to develop a new product.

The fact that they cut it so soon speaks to just how rotten sales were/are.

 

[gsaldivar]

When HP bought Palm, Palm was literally doing nothing. They were not developing jack.

They were full steam ahead on WebOS at the time of the buyout if I remember correctly. PalmOS may have been long in the tooth, but people were still buying Centro phones. I think the reason why they were late to the table is because of the distraction of the Foleo.

People were saying for many years that Palm should focus on rewriting their platform, or at least cosmetic update of PalmOS (like MS did with WM6.5). That would have at least bought them some time... Poor management, and failed experiments with new hardware cost them valuable time during which their products became increasingly unsaleable. Ultimately financial pressures forced the company to either sell itself or fold...

 

[ultimatebob]

...and the casualties start to mount in the tablet wars.

I had a hunch that HP/WebOS was doomed, but even I didn't think it would die this quickly.

I can't decide if Windows Mobile or BlackBerry's new tablet OS will be the next one to go belly up.... but I'm sure that one of them will fail in the next few years.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Why would anyone want to just license it though? That means HP remains in charge of development; what does that get you exactly? And if you're HP you have all the costs of developing the OS but none of the profit from selling finished devices.

Nothing short of a sale makes sense for anyone in the industry.

Exactly. Someone's gonna buy Palm/WebOS for its IP and patents like it shoud've happened a year ago. (probably Apple, Google, MS, HTC or Samsung)

I don't know what HP was thinking trying to resurrect a dying OS in an overcrowded market while releasing hardware they'd never built before. Had failure written all over it from day one.

 

[gsaldivar]

Exactly. Someone's gonna buy Palm/WebOS for its IP and patents like it shoud've happened a year ago. (probably Apple, Google, MS, HTC or Samsung)

Now that it's finally obvious that software is what they should have been focusing on in the first place, they won't sell those WebOS assets. In fact, HP wants to double-down and spend $10+ billion MORE on software/IP right now...

 

[Spicedaddy]

...and the casualties start to mount in the tablet wars.

I had a hunch that HP/WebOS was doomed, but even I didn't think it would die this quickly.

I can't decide if Windows Mobile or BlackBerry's new tablet OS will be the next one to go belly up.... but I'm sure that one of them will fail in the next few years.

BB's next, probably in less than a year. Windows 8 will be on tablets, that's not going anywhere.