Six weeks later, HP said it was discontinuing the production of
all webOS hardware including the TouchPad tablet.
HP announced today that the company would discontinue
its webOS hardware products in the fourth quarter of 2011.
We're just over three weeks away from the HP TouchPad making its entrance into the tablet market, which is exciting not only because we really want to get our hands on the slate, but also because it's great to see some more fresh
webOS hardware arriving on store shelves.
Not exact matches
He planned to let Palm's
webOS software permeate the company's various
hardware lines, including PCs, phones and the much - publicized TouchPad tablet.
The Palm global business unit was responsible for
webOS software development and
webOS based
hardware products, such as the Palm Pre and Pixi handsets.
The iPad2 is another great Apple product (with strong
hardware / software coupling), but its unchanged - for - four - years iOS user - interface has definitely been eclipsed (e.g. the lack of an intelligent notification handling, widgets, or card stacks) by more recent offerings (e.g. Android,
WebOS, and even the copy - cat RIM Playbook).
They might have lost a boatload of money with buying
WEBOS for two billion dollars, and lost money on the
hardware as well, but everyone knows the word TouchPad now.
Announcing the acquisition deal, Palo Alto from California based HP said, «Palm will be responsible for
webOS software development and
webOS - based
hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks».
Palm's ill - fated
webOS was savaged by the same media outlets for stuttery behavior in version 1.x, so version 2.0 incorporated
hardware acceleration and other improvements to deliver a smoother experience.
HP has washed its hands clean of all
hardware based on
WebOS, the mobile operating system platform that it has bought and worked upon for almost a year.
There has been a change in leadership at HP and some believe there might be a change in company plans so that
WebOS based
hardware like the TouchPad might get to see the light of day once more.
The biggest problem with
WebOS is that HP is going to be making the
hardware.
I've used a Pre and loved
WebOS but hated the
hardware, however this tablet looks about perfect.
But what can we expect from the mediocre
hardware HP seems so fond of using for
WebOS devices — or maybe they just continued with Palms failed plans and HPs only contribution was «lets add Beats Audio».
webOS is really a great OS, and finally has decent
hardware.
So the
hardware's not out of this world but what always appealed with
WebOS devices was the awesome interface.
Palm Pre The Pre offers one of the best user experiences of any smartphone with Palm's
webOS, and it's probably the best phone on Sprint,
hardware build issues and comparatively dinky App Catalog aside.
The port was accomplished with the Galaxy Nexus project in conjunction with LibHybris, created by Carsten Munk (an engineer at Jolla, though he also leads Merproject, which grew out of Sailfish ancestors Maemo and Meego), a library that allows for «bionic - based [Android]
hardware adaptations in glibc systems», in essence making it easier to translate between the designed - for - Android
hardware and Linux - based software like the Open
webOS operating system.
They might even make
hardware that ships with Open
webOS already installed, though like the possibilities for the devices above, we wouldn't put all of our cards on that thought.
«We've definitely said we'll continue in the tablet market, though we have discontinued
hardware with
webOS,» Somsak said.
The seven - inch Android - powered tablet built by Asus was the premiere launch devices for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and thanks to the open source and open
hardware nature of the device, it is the perfect fit for
WebOS Ports's next porting adventure.
HP has quietly updated its Developer Center with a new notice announcing that it will shutdown the
webOS infrastructure that currently powers the HP TouchPad, Pre and Veer
hardware will be shutdown on January 15th, 2015.
HP CEO Meg Whitman confirms HP resuming production of tablet
hardware, with Windows 8 as its new focus after the calamity of
webOS.
Former PalmOS developers and early
webOS developers will be rewarded for their loyalty with discounts on the
hardware.
WebOS sounds like a great mobile OS, but HP doesn't sound like they will be pushing it on
hardware that is competitive.
HP could hire a bunch of new
hardware engineers into the
webOS unit to make it happen, though we'd likely be looking at another year's worth of waiting as they'd be starting from scratch organizationally and from a design and engineering standpoint.
While
webOS is not completely dead and the TouchPad is still supported by HP for it's software and
hardware, a $ 100 tablet that can run two operating systems is always better than just one.
The LG Watch Urbane was just announced at MWC 2015, which features the same
hardware and Android Wear OS in a slimmer, more attractive package, as well as a standalone LTE version in the works that will be running a resurrected version of LG's own
WebOS.
The
hardware it was being showcased on is also even chunkier than LG's G Watch R, and we've got quite a few questions about how useful it'll be to non-Audi owners (and where else we'll see
webOS appear in LG's future arsenal).
The 2015 line of Smart TVs were already faster due to their newer
hardware, but
WebOS 2.0 has as much to do about that as well.