HP preparing to sell webOS to highest bidder?

by Steven Mostyn - Nov 8 2011, 05:50

Having recently pulled the plug on its ill-fated TouchPad tablet, computer giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) is now apparently looking for someone to take the device’s webOS mobile operating system off its hands.

That’s according to multiple unnamed sources referenced by Reuters in a report that claims HP wants to offload webOS, likely in an effort to recoup some of the “hundreds of millions of dollars” it has lost in recent months.

Although it remains to be seen which industry player(s) will step forward to battle for the Palm-developed operating system—which, although thoroughly decent, may be viewed as something of a poison chalice—rumor has it that Oracle Corp. could be interested.

“We have no comment with the Reuters report,” a spokesperson for HP said when asked about the possible sale of webOS. “We have said all along ‘we are exploring ways to optimize the webOS software’.”

The sale of webOS could indeed help HP staunch some of its financial bleeding where mobile technology is concerned—not least because of the recent TouchPad disaster and the whopping $1.2 billion USD it spent in 2010 to acquire smartphone specialist Palm Inc.

The TouchPad tablet computer was abandoned by HP in the summer after consumers largely ignored it in favor of rival platforms such as the Apple iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab. HP promptly dropped the device and slashed its price points in order to help disgruntled retailers clear piles of unwanted stock.

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