The mystery continues. Days after HP announced that they would be retaining its Personal Systems Group; the Guardian is reporting that HP will indeed pull the plug on the WebOS division which the company acquired for over $1.2 billion back in 2010.
The newspaper added that personnel working in the WebOS wing could be assimilated to other departments in the company. They have also added that this could end up resulting in job losses for up to 500 employees.
After the ouster of ex CEO Leo Apotheker who was the man behind the company’s decision to spin of the Personal Systems Group, Meg Whitman took over and a few days ago reversed the decision. Apotheker’s decision to spin off the PC making division which also happens to be the largest PC maker on the planet shocked many. The PS Group was however also the least profitable division within HP which is likely to have prompted Apothker to take such a decision.
While announcing the decision to keep the PC division, HP was silent about the fate of WebOS. The company had added they they would be in the tablet business anyway with new Windows 8 tablets.
Citing a source from within HP, the Guardian says it expects HP to close down the group soon. They also added that several top level executives from WebOS have left the sinking ship. In fact, a large number of people working within the group are expecting imminent closure with one employee saying that he expects everyone to be laid off by November.
This is contrary to earlier reports about the division being up for sale. Earlier, Samsung and more recently Sony have ruled out any possibility of them buying out WebOS. Sony, which recently acquired Ericsson’s share of the Sony Ericsson joint venture, will have other pressing issues to look at than acquiring an already troubled platform.
The other savior was Amazon who many thought would acquire WebOS thanks to the presence of ex Palm Chief Jon Rubinstein who has a place in Amazon’s board of directors. However, they already have a modified Android Operating System for their Kindle Fire Tablet. Whether Amazon would be interested in acquiring another Operating System is questionable.
