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HP's limboed webOS decision expected 'within two weeks'

By | November 30, 2011, 6:14am PST

Summary: Meg Whitman, HP’s chief executive, told a French newspaper that a decision on the company’s webOS division will be made in the next two weeks.

Speaking to French newspaper Le Figaro, HP’s chief executive Meg Whitman said in an interview that the decision surrounding the future of its webOS division will be made “in the next two weeks”.

Though no indications were given as to whether the mobile operating system’s division will stay or go, she said that the “team of 600 people [is] in limbo” awaiting the decision, adding that it will not be an easy choice to make.

Whitman said during the interview that HP needed “to have another operating system”, indicating that either webOS could stage a comeback, or the company could pave the way to acquire another operating system for its hardware devices.

Former HP CEO Leo Apotheker made the decision to kill off the Personal Systems Group (PSG), which incorporates webOS development, tablet and consumer PC manufacturing teams. But when Whitman arrived in the role, she effectively reversed this decision and embraced the company’s hardware roots.

Earlier this month, Whitman was reportedly poised to decide the fate of the webOS division, but instead told employees at an all-hands meeting on November 8th that she was still considering the group’s fate.

At least now the webOS team has a firm timeline of when the sword will fall, or whether the group will be reinvented and rejuvenated as something else.

In the interview, as reported by AllThingsD, Whitman conceded that should the iPad count as a PC, then Apple will likely take the crown as the world’s top vendor of PCs. Whitman said should that be the case, then 2013 will be the year where HP tries to reclaim its pride of place as the world’s leading manufacturer.

In killing off the HP TouchPad tablet during the summer after the company suffered poor hardware sales in the division, the firesale that followed gave the tablet a lease of life. Though HP lost millions in the reduced-price sale, the company still reported a marginal increase on revenue up by 1 percent from last year.

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Hewlett-Packard Co., CEO, WebOS, Mobile Operating Systems, Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from CNN, the Huffington Post, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

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RE: HP's limboed webOS decision expected 'within two weeks'
data ferret 1st Dec
"Whitman conceded that should the iPad count as a PC, then Apple will likely take the crown as the world???s top vendor of PCs."

Anyone notice this statement?
This a real paradigm shift for Apple to be #1 or even #2 or #3.
In less than 2 years? Impossible! Can't be true. The iPad is not a computer! It's a toy. "Revolutionary and Magical", Steve Jobs.
View in thread
0 Votes
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Limbo Huh?
Peter Perry 30th Nov
Check this out! It doesn't look like it is in Limbo to me.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0055D66V4/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d5_g147_i4?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0ZT470BF01FPM2TP5367&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846
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RE: HP's limboed webOS decision expected 'within two weeks'
step69 30th Nov
Peter Perry-your link doesn't mean anything as far as what the article is about. It's just a sales ad for the touchpad. It doesn't mean HP won't just announce that they dropped their webOS division within the next 2 weeks. So yes webOS is still very much in limbo, especially with the announcement that new HP touchpads will be with Windows 8.

I think HP should keep webOS. HP spent too much on webOS to just eat the cost. They could just copy what Amazon did with Kindle Fire and make their money on software/product tie-in with their own app store.
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RE: HP's limboed webOS decision expected 'within two weeks'
Shlomopr 30th Nov
Today is 11/30/2011; so, in 2 weeks she will decide ? Well simple math; 2 wks will be Dec 15 th; smack in the Xtmas season; almost 1 million Americans who own a "fire sale touchpads"; can HP afford to loose a "self inflicted Golden opportunity"; hell no !
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Skimmed
Robert Hahn 30th Nov
Might as well let it go at this point. By now, the best people have already left for other jobs. The people still stuck there are the ones nobody else wanted.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: HP's limboed webOS decision expected 'within two weeks'
data ferret 1st Dec
"Whitman conceded that should the iPad count as a PC, then Apple will likely take the crown as the world???s top vendor of PCs."

Anyone notice this statement?
This a real paradigm shift for Apple to be #1 or even #2 or #3.
In less than 2 years? Impossible! Can't be true. The iPad is not a computer! It's a toy. "Revolutionary and Magical", Steve Jobs.

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