Yesterday, Meg Whitman decided that HP would not spin off or sell its PC Division. Many were wondering what is going to happened with webOS and the very-popular HP TouchPad tablet.
Meg Whitman addressed tablet issues in a conference call while the Guardian reported webOS termination news.
It appears that a decision will be made in a few months about webOS and Windows 8 will be the operating system for the next HP TouchPad.
"I think we need to be in the tablet business, and we're certainly going to be there with Windows 8," Whitman said during a conference call with analysts. "We're going to make a run at this [tablet] business."
In regards to webOS, HP will likely make a decision "in the next couple of months," she said. She also said that HP will focus on devices that are appealing to both enterprise and consumers. She noted that consumer devices like the iPhone and iPad don't always work well with the security needs of business.The Guardian reported that HP intends to shut down its webOS unit that it paid $1.2Billion in April 2010 and will layoff or transfer 500 webOS employees.
"There's a 95% chance we all get laid off between now and November, and I for one am thinking it's for the best," one webOS employee told the Guardian.
The Guardian noted that Richard Kerris resigned earlier this week as HP's vice-president of webOS worldwide developer relations.
The Guardian also reported that no company is interested or wants to buy the webOS division. Sony is not interested. There is no sign that Amazon is interested even though Jon Rubenstein is on the board.
The HP TouchPad sold-out and flew off the shelves when it was reduced to $99 for 16 GB and $149 for 32 GB. A second run was sold-out to employees who spent the whole day ordering HP TouchPads with some complaining about the loss of work time.
Currently the HP TouchPad sells for over $200 on eBay. HP closed all of its HP Palm retail stores. Then gave away autographed HP TouchPads in a contest.