HP Moves WebOS From PC Group: What Next?

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?"

New Theory:

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

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...

well, obviously...

[catbutt]

...they should open source it and let another organization do something with it. Mozilla would be a prime candidate, since that's basically what they did with the remains of netscape.

WebOS has a lot going for it, in the sense that its main API is based on Javascript/Html5, which lends itself well to being opened up. Android may be open source, but building it on java resulted in it being less than open.

black hole or maybe just nutso

[tverbeek]

HP seems to have become akin to a black hole (or Galactus), devouring other companies and permanently destroying them in the process. OK, it was Compaq that engulfed DEC, but then HP engulfed Compaq. Now it has done the same to 3Com, Palm, and even its own industry-leading microcomputer division seems destined for the singularity.

Definitely part of the problem here is Léo Apotheker, the guy currently in charge of the trainwreck that is HP. I like the commentary quoted in the NY Times [nytimes.com] that likens him to hypothetical former Boeing exec taking over Ford, then announcing that Ford was going to make planes instead.

Re:New Theory:

[syousef]

At this point? That happened nearly two decades ago.

Carly was only there from 1999-2005.

Smacks of...

[michael_cain]

...positioning things so they can sell it off. Move it out of the line organization, into a special headquarters group, then sell it.