HP reportedly axes 270 jobs from webOS unit
Summary: Layoffs continue with another Silicon Valley giant as HP prepares to let go of 270 employees from its webOS department.
The sad layoff announcements continue today over at Hewlett-Packard.
Not surprisingly, these seems to be primarily affecting the webOS department, which has not-so-secretly been suffering significantly in the last year.
HP reportedly let go of approximately 270 people on Tuesday, according to The Verge.
Most of the cuts look to be engineering-related as HP offered a small statement to news outlets, which explained that HP wants "a smaller and more nimble team that is well-equipped to deliver an open source webOS and sustain HP’s commitment to the software over the long term."
In January, former Palm chief Jon Rubinstein left HP amid rumors of internal turmoil within HP and the webOS department.
The layoff news started this week when IBM axed more than 1,000 jobs across North America amidst a reorganization of its own.
HP finally looked to be doing better (or at the very least, not worse) when first fiscal quarter earnings were announced last week.
However, the fate of webOS at HP has always remained unclear since the HP TouchPad, what was supposed to be the shining star of this brand, was suddenly retired back in August within a month of launching.
In September, CEO Meg Whitman reiterated HP's commitment to webOS, and that led to a announcement a few months later that the platform would be going open source.
Company officials revealed to ZDNet in December that open sourcing WebOS was the best move after the company reviewed the various possibilities for the mobile operating system -- leading to speculation that HP just couldn't find a reasonable buyer.
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Talkback
it has something to do with patent threats
THis is no surprise after all after HP announced where it was
Pagan jim
Pagan jim
Open source was a ploy to lay off all webos workers.
Open Source people are not going to be HP suckers and help HP make money for HP f-ups.
Since HP is laying off people and showing signs of the end, I don't think Open source people will be that inclined to help out now. It should be a joint effort and not once sided.
Also why doesn't HP sell a $200 tablet? Seems people would rather spend $200 or buy an iPAD. Its hard to sell anything else. (Rich people with money to spend are brain washed)
I guess x-hp employee
Killing the brains behind WebOS is killing its innovation. Palm was really good at making hardware and an OS that works together. OpenSouce people will just have software without the capability to design new hardware, where palm had th capability to design hardware for the software and software for the hardware creating new innovations
Imagine
$200 tablet did it for amazon, nook, rim etc.