LG Buys WebOS From HP to Power Smart TVs
— -- BARCELONA -- Now that HP has committed to Android for tablets and phones — beginning with the HP Slate 7 — it's time for the company to get rid of some of its excess baggage — namely, webOS. According to CNET, LG is acquiring webOS from HP with the intention of putting it on its smart television sets.
You remember webOS, right? It was Palm's innovative mobile operating system that based its foundation on web technologies — such as HTML and JavaScript. When HP acquired Palm back in 2010, it all looked so promising. It wasn't to last. In a span of just 16 months, HP went from "doubling down" on webOS to ending hardware development and open-sourcing the operating system.
Now, HP is apparently selling the source code for webOS, all related documentation, as well as engineers and websites to LG. LG will also get a license to use webOS with its products, as well as the patents HP got from its purchase of Palm.
LG had already announced plans to use webOS on its smart TVs but the move to formally buy the software and the engineering talent solidifies the company's strategy of creating a better user experience for the living room.
No word on what will happen with Open webOS — though we assume the project will continue to exist, even if it is unmaintained. Last fall, HP spun-off many remaining members of the webOS software team into a new group called Gram. It's unclear if Gram is now part of LG or if it will remain under HP's tutelage. We've reached out to HP and LG for comment and will update once we have more information.
For fans of the promise of webOS, there's good news: Mozilla's Firefox OS carries on webOS's ideas of creating a full operating system and app ecosystem using open web standards.
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