Bringing webOS back into the HP fold may also require expenditures Whitman is unwilling to make.
Google ( GOOG - news - people ) Android and Palm WebOS devices.
Nor would HP (seemingly) be stepping on any toes if it took control of webOS again.
The device runs on WebOS, which it acquired when the company bought Palm last summer.
The dedicated folks at webOS Nation have managed to get their hands on a functional prototype.
ENGADGET: WindsorNot: the 4-inch webOS smartphone that never saw the light of day
The possibilities have some webOS developers enthusing about the platform as though it is brand-new.
FORBES: HP webOS Developers Await TouchPad, Pre3 With Questions, Optimism
Their devotion was evident at a recent webOS Developers Meetup held in New York City.
FORBES: HP webOS Developers Await TouchPad, Pre3 With Questions, Optimism
These days, there may be no mobile developer as patient as a webOS developer.
FORBES: HP webOS Developers Await TouchPad, Pre3 With Questions, Optimism
Second, an easy way (as Palm has shown in WebOS) to switch between them.
ENGADGET: Entelligence: Mobile multitasking is mostly a myth
Same goes for my phone: precentral.net assumes you already know a lot about webOS phones.
On August 18, HP said it was killing its WebOS-based gadgets, including the TouchPad.
FORBES: Customers Complain HP's $99 TouchPad Developing Cracks [Updated]
When all was said and done, the phone's operating system was upgraded to webOS 1.2.
Palm's webOS has never been a platform to stir the interest of the casual gamer.
ENGADGET: webOS SDK bemoaned by iPhone developer as Palm seeks game API engineers
In short, within the past few days, Android (likely) became less open while webOS became more open.
FORBES: Mobile Ecosystems In Flux As HP Exits Phone, Tablet Business
Assuming, of course, Nokia doesn't end up adding webOS to its portfolio somewhere along the way.
ENGADGET: Nokia abandoning S60 for Maemo on future N-Series devices?
Unfortunately for fans of Palm's last hurrah, the project's webOS port died with the HP Touchpad.
Invented exclusively for mobile use, webOS offers an instinctive user experience that seems to anticipate your needs.
Removal of WebOS from the playing field after HP yesterday it will stop selling WebOS-based phones and tablets.
The problem is that WebOS, despite its nice user interface and some nice technical qualities, is a failed platform.
Such a feature would make it possible to swap webOS devices on a whim without fear of losing data.
FORBES: HP webOS Developers Await TouchPad, Pre3 With Questions, Optimism
Fans of webOS know how to keep their spirits up through trying times.
Of all, the big news out of HP today, the death of WebOS was the most unexpected development.
WebOS developers continue to wait, even now, several weeks after the introduction of the TouchPad, Pre3 and Veer.
FORBES: HP webOS Developers Await TouchPad, Pre3 With Questions, Optimism
The 4:3 tablet provides the large canvas that webOS seemed born to cover.
Palm makes its own, well-received operating system, webOS, which competes directly with Android.
Sadly, it's reminiscent of webOS, the last hurrah of smartphone pioneer Palm Inc.
Under Apotheker, HP released three new webOS-powered devices: the HP TouchPad tablet and HP Veer and Pre 3 smartphones.
In late November, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Doug Reid also cited March as a likely launch time for a webOS tablet.
Analyst Jack Gold expects HP to apply webOS to tablets and other consumer devices, where it would compete with Android.
Naturally, webOS will be onboard, and we're hearing that a WiFi-only model will indeed hit the market at some point.
ENGADGET: HP / Palm's 9.7-inch Topaz tablet to use 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8660, Adreno 220 GPU
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