HP reportedly axes 270 jobs from webOS unit
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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