Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,294
30,377



webos_banner.jpg



HP today announced that it will be open sourcing its webOS mobile operating system acquired when it purchased Palm last year. The fate of webOS has been unclear since the company's August announcement that it would be spinning off its PC division and exiting the tablet and smartphone markets. HP later reversed course on its planned PC unit spinoff, but has continued to weigh its options for webOS amid the discontinuation of its mobile hardware effort.
"webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable," said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. "By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices."

HP will make the underlying code of webOS available under an open source license. Developers, partners, HP engineers and other hardware manufacturers can deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace.
As ZDNet notes, the open sourcing of webOS adds a competitor for Android, offering hardware manufacturers wary of relying too much on Google's open source platform an option to diversify their own slates of products.
Android is the king of mobile as well as open source operating systems. However, carriers and smartphone makers want to diversify away from Android as well as Apple's iOS. WebOS could be a nice diversification tool that could splinter Android support. The other reality: The WebOS UI is better than Android's, but Google's platform has the apps.
The availability of webOS for use by numerous manufacturers could also threaten Microsoft and its efforts to make Windows Phone competitive by partnering with Nokia.

Update: In an interview with The Verge, HP CEO Meg Whitman reveals that the company is planning to use webOS on future tablet products, indicating the company is not abandoning mobile hardware entirely. No timeframe for such products has been announced.
Will HP be creating any new webOS hardware?

Meg: The answer to that is yes but what I can't tell you is whether that will be in 2012 or not. But we will use webOS in new hardware, but it's just going to take us a little longer to reorganize the team in a quite different direction than we've been taking it in the past.

Are we talking printers? Or tablets and phones?

Meg: In the near term what I would imagine -- and this could change, in full disclosure -- is I would think tablets, I do not believe we will be in the smartphone business again.

Article Link: HP Turns WebOS Open Source, Could Offer Manufacturers Alternative to Android
 

chrmjenkins

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2007
5,325
158
MD
Probably the best outcome for everybody.

HP wouldn't have done this if they could have gotten a buyer that offered any decent amount, so the community wins.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,308
Wow, that's cool. HP made a great decision that will not only benefit its current customers but also hopefully add an alternative to android
 

barkomatic

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2008
4,518
2,821
Manhattan
This is great news. WebOS is awesome--and I'm glad it may live on on other devices. I always felt it wasn't fully optimized on the Touchpad--so hopefully another tablet maker will give it a try with some better hardware. Though, it might be wise to try and go the Blackberry route at first and emulate some Android apps.
 

kasei

macrumors 6502a
Dec 30, 2003
657
257
Los Angeles, CA
Interesting move HP. This puts you back in play and may even slow Android down a little. I wouldn't be surprised if the Military jumps on a version of this as MeeGo has turned out to be a major disappointment.
 

ChazUK

macrumors 603
Feb 3, 2008
5,393
25
Essex (UK)
I wonder how this will affect Microsoft's plans seeing as they're lagging so far behind at the moment?

I'd love to see some WebOS roms ported to Android handsets myself. I guess XDA's WebOS and Development Hacking forum is going to grow substantially now. :cool:

EDIT: This could also end up huge in China too.
 

newdeal

macrumors 68030
Oct 21, 2009
2,509
1,769
...

After having an iPad 2, touchpad and samasung galaxy 10.1 I can say the following:

iPad2 kicks ass
Touchpad sucks but webOS is better than iOS (needs more apps though and better hardware)
Galaxy 10.1 is nice hardware but Honeycomb is horrible and it ruins the whole experience because the key capabilities of the tablet (browser etc) are poorly executed
 

bananasquiddly

macrumors newbie
Mar 1, 2011
17
0
New Jersey
Why?

As ZDNet notes, the open sourcing of webOS adds a competitor for Android, offering hardware manufacturers wary of relying too much on Google's open source platform an option to diversify their own slates of products.

No, it doesn't. Who's going to be developing it? Who's going to maintain an application repository? I love webOS, but this does absolutely nothing for the platform.

If you thought fragmentation was a problem for Android…
 

paul4339

macrumors 65816
Sep 14, 2009
1,447
730
yay! hopefully some manufacturers will adopt it and an ecosystem will begin to develop.
 

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,110
3,977
I guess there is no reason for Samsung over the next year or so to offer high quality, very nicely designed tablets that come in Android, Windows8 and WebOS versions.

They are masters of design and more importantly engineering their own technology, I can't see any reason why Samsung will not become one of, if not the biggest Tablet maker in the future.
 

Ryth

macrumors 68000
Apr 21, 2011
1,591
157
After having an iPad 2, touchpad and samasung galaxy 10.1 I can say the following:

iPad2 kicks ass
Touchpad sucks but webOS is better than iOS (needs more apps though and better hardware)
Galaxy 10.1 is nice hardware but Honeycomb is horrible and it ruins the whole experience because the key capabilities of the tablet (browser etc) are poorly executed

Agreed. I have an iPad and TP and I like WebOS much better...which is saying something.

Just the ability to swipe and throw is awesome and I personally prefer the mail app on webOS over iOS.

Android blows all around.

iPad3 though could be game changing..especially if the iOS gets a upgrade.
 

GFLPraxis

macrumors 604
Mar 17, 2004
7,152
460
This is excellent. Android's been doing well off of its market position (open source + available to third parties), not technical merits. Now it has a superior technical competitor. I'd love to see a four-way platform split in mobile.
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
Maybe this could even drive future Kindles. I hope it gets a chance to take off and grow.
 

intel

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2005
111
0
Best news I've heard in a long time.
Web OS, I've decided will be my only alternative to iOS. I can't fall in love with android no matter how I try. I fell in love instantly with WebOS when I first saw it. The only thing that kept me away from WebOS was the hardware. I'm hoping now that Samsung and HTC jump on board wit WebOS.
 

dethmaShine

macrumors 68000
Apr 13, 2010
1,697
0
Into the lungs of Hell
That's great.

How open will it be though?

The same way as carriers murder android with junk-ware?
The same way Android phones hardly get an update?
...
...

I hope HP will prioritise these things and make it a better open-source software than Android.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.