HP is unhappy. The company formerly known as Hewlett Packard will stop supporting the webOS operating system it bought from Palm just over a year ago. webOS powers the HP TouchPad and Pre smart phones, which in effect means these devices are dead in the water, and the company is pulling out of the phone and tablet markets altogether.
In a statement, HP said it intends to "discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones". The company has -- had -- a few irons in the fire, with the HP Pre 3 and Veer smart phones in the works. It was even considering a souped-up white TouchPad.
There was also talk of sticking webOS on gadgets made by other companies, which is apparently still a possibility -- but who'd want to bother when they can go with Android? The news is a huge blow for any smaller operating system, with such a major player as HP acknowledging that the market is just too crowded.
It's not just phones and tablets that are to be culled: HP is also selling off its Personal Systems Group, which makes PCs. Who could buy it? We reckon Taiwanese company Acer might be hunting around the back of the drawers trying to remember where it left the chequebook.HP is one of the world's biggest computer companies, selling 1 million printers and 48 million PCs every year -- hecknabbit, we're writing this story on one right now. HP reckons its software is used by 300 million mobile phone users too.
But the company has clearly realised the writing is on the wall in the consumer market. It's a shame, because we liked the webOS system of virtual cards to shuffle apps, and it looked great -- half the battle when it comes to a user interface. Sadly the HP TouchPad failed to thrill when we tried it out.
It seems HP is the first to face up to the facts, leaving one less player in the smart phone and tablet game. Right now there are two major players with a significant headstart on branding, apps and technology: Apple makes the most money and Google's Android shifts the most units. In these days of apps and ecosystems, HP's decision serves as a stark warning to other minority players like Research in Motion's BlackBerry and QNX, Nokia's MeeGo and even Microsoft's Windows Phone.
Is HP right to get out of the game? Should other minority operating systems follow suit? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 6
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anonymous 19 August, 2011 11:21
Sad day this in a way. WebOS was the equal of iOS and Android but just came too late.
The fact it was too late to rival Android or iOS was obvious to most geeks even before Palm had been bought by HP.
The fact that HP failed to realise this shows just how stupid people can be when you get thousands of them together and call it a company
ace9988 19 August, 2011 12:00
very sad coz the software had potential, the only thing that could save it is if it's licensed out to manufacturers like android is and hopefully their backing can help develop the software. I really like it (if only HP gave me a touchpad so i could help with development =P)
Scoringskins 19 August, 2011 12:38
In my mind, Apple has such a headstart in the Tablet PC market, it's difficult for the other manufactures to compete, even with the Android device. They have all got their pricing horribly wrong. Who wants to pay around £30-£50 less for an Android (or Web OS) device, when you could get an iPad instead for a bit more cash?
In order to displace Apple in the market place competitors need to seriously undercut Apples pricing, whilst being able to deliver a device that simply just works. That's easier said than done I know, but to be able to gain market share this is required. There is success in the smartphone market, so why not apply the same strategy in the tablet PC market?
Android because of market fragmentation does not work as well as it could. There's potentially a gap in the market for Android to allow the consumer to make system level adjustments to the OS to custimise it better for their individual needs, instead of being locked in to the nanny state that is iOS. That's a unique selling point for an open source OS, but the interface to do this needs to be made simple for the average consumer to be able to doit.
bilbo126 19 August, 2011 23:28
Why should RIM pull out of the market when it has the Playbook which looks better than any of the competition, ok it lacks the apps. but who needs a quarter of a million of them? We are all at a disadvantage when competition is limited. Long live RIM and watch out for greedy others buying up patents, not content with selling the hardware but charging us a slice of everything we do.
anonymous 20 August, 2011 07:29
Because RIM suck ass and so does their crappy playbook iPad wannabe! And who didn't see this coming? The Touchpad was a lemon from the start simply because of the competition around.
You geeks might think so called customisable devices are cool, but the general public couldn't give a rats ass about fiddling around with the OS. The simple fact is whether you like Apple or not for idealogical reasons, the iPad is leagues ahead.
anonymous 20 August, 2011 12:38
I wonder if hp will actually just licence webos to blackberry. With the new rim os looking just like webos, it makes sense and saves another court case. Blackberry is the only brand that could realistically compete with apple and android, thanks to bbm you will find a majority of young people actually have a blackberry.