HP Kills TouchPad, Puts WebOS in Hibernation

Ouch!

HP announced it will no longer produce hardware running its webOS mobile operating system, discontinuing operations on future TouchPad tablets and the Pre smartphone devices.

“HP plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones,” the company said in a statement. “HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.”

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The news comes in the wake of a huge announcement from Google earlier this week, when the Mountain View company announced its acquisition of hardware company Motorola Mobility Holdings for $12.5 billion. Traditionally a software-only company, Google is making its first foray into the hardware business. (The company did test the waters slightly with recent partnerships with Samsung and Acer, which both make the Chrome OS-powered Chromebook.)

The news of the Motorola acquisition set the technology world abuzz, with pundits speculating that Google would alienate its other hardware partners — HTC, Samsung, LG and Sony Ericsson. The new relationship between Google and Motorola could make Google’s partners wary that competitor Motorola may be privy to inside information on Android, cutting others out of the loop.

This isn't really the best time to be killing your mobile platform, but considering how slow HP moves and how poorly WebOS has done the decision was likely driven to stop the cash hemorrhage and stay in the green.  

Related Web URL: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/08/hp-webos-ta...