The blogosphere is buzzing once again about the fate of webOS, after HP came to no decision about webOS during a meeting ostensibly to determine its fate. The VAR Guy posed the question, Is it simply too late for webOS? but I ask the question, Does it even matter?

What’s the most valuable thing about webOS and Palm? If you answered “patents,” you’d be correct. Right now, anyone eyeing webOS is likely looking at what patents can be had from the acquisition. It has been speculated that everyone from Oracle to Intel have their eyes on webOS — maybe even Amazon — but the gains are the same for every company: technological assets they can assimilate into their own product lineup.

I submit that webOS itself, as either an operating system or a mobile platform, has zero intrinsic value anymore. Have you met anyone recently who uses a Palm Pre or Pixi? And despite the fire sale of TouchPads for $99, I have yet to see them proliferate the consumer space? webOS is so unpopular that an entire community of developers came together to run Android on the device, giving the TouchPad access to a bounty of more apps, opportunities and extra features.

So if HP injected needed funds to revive webOS, would anyone care? Is anyone going to want to buy another webOS tablet or phone? Will webOS be relevant by the time such hypothetical devices exist? I believe that answer to be a resounding “no.” There are simply too many players in the market, and webOS as a mobile platform for building future mobile devices is no longer relevant in that sense. Microsoft has even invited webOS players to switch teams, offering them tools and resources to develop Windows Phone apps instead. Currently, the buzz about webOS boils down to this: Like vultures, vendors are now picking on the remains of a once-great-but-long-dead mobile operating system and its intellectual property.

That’s not to say I don’t wish HP to prove me wrong. But making webOS relevant again will prove a near-impossible task in this turbulent mobile atmosphere. Don’t count on it, but don’t worry about it, either. It doesn’t matter.

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4 Comments on “HP Still Undecided on Fate of webOS, But Does it Matter?”

  1. Tim Cerami Says:
    November 11th, 2011 at 12:41 pm

    Just a couple comments… First, since I bought a TouchPad, I went out and got a used Pixi because I liked the WebOS experience and my Android phone got hosed by a Gingerbread update.

    WebOS, especially from a smartphone aspect needed to approach things differently. There are a bunch of people out there who need a reliable smartphone, but don’t need all the complexity in an iPhone or Android. WebOS is a simpler experience that provides voice, email, SMS, maps, camera, video, an app store, etc, in a more simplified package. I think there is a market for this strategy, especially amoung older users.

    Further, what’s with the chiclet sized phones they put out? I would LOVE to run WebOS on a phone the size of a Droid. And putting in larger processors would make this OS really hum along.

    On the tablet side, HP was just stupid… As is Blackberry thinking they can sell tablets at iPad prices. HP needed to drop pricing into the $200-$250 range and keep it there. I have shown my TouchPad to a lot of people and they love it. I don’t give a damn about running Android on it. It does email, web, music, movies, games, remote PC control, works with my phone, etc, etc, etc. It’s good straight out of the box.

    So, while it looks dead or at best in limbo. I would like to see HP keep it, but be smarter about how to position it in the tablet and phone market.

    Thanks!

  2. Dave Courbanou Says:
    November 13th, 2011 at 5:02 pm

    Hi Tim,

    Thanks for reading. I appreciate your insight and comments.

    I’m 100% on your side. I have always been a fan of webOS. I just really believe HP has a lot of work to do if they’re going to resurrect webOS to make it relevant. I agree, HP needs to be way smarter about it all. Let’s hope for the best, even though I’m expecting the worst.

  3. unicorn Says:
    November 13th, 2011 at 5:22 pm

    I wish betamax would come back.

  4. The VAR Guy Says:
    November 15th, 2011 at 8:48 am

    Unicorn: Rewind a bit more. Jump to 8-track tapes. That’s the ticket. -TVG

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