Saturday, September 3, 2011

HP Pulling the plug on touchpad

Its all over the news.HP is closing down its WebOS division and is pulling the plug on its Touchpad and other WebOS devices.The Palm Pre 3 which was to released this year has been cancelled .Currently HP is looking for buyers for its WebOS division. HP is also reportedly shutting down its Personal Computer Systems division (indeed you might have chanced upon the full page adverts in The Hindu) and is keen on selling it too and concentrate only on the enterprise and software market. The PCS division is supposed to value around 40 Billion USD.

While WebOS did not turn out to the iPad Killer it was deemed to be , It wasnt a bad OS.WebOS is still one of the most advanced OSes for embedded devices in terms of process management and UI. Critics and user alike loved its card stack UI for handling process and simple clean interface.Had HP had some patience it could have improved on the WebOS , bringing it on par to Android and iOS. Closing down the WebOS division seems to be a desperate move . Nevertheless it can still salvage WebOS by open sourcing it or putting its development and maintenance in the hands of the open community.Not only would legacy devices and the TouchPad be supported, HP can still use it when it wants to come up with a Future iOS /Android killer. Projects like Linux and Debian really point the way towards the advantages of involving the community in development processes. As far as the PC division is concerned, HP is making the same move IBM made in 2005 by selling its PC division to Lenovo.Granted things may have been better for PC's then.With the tablet wars and the Mobile era growing rapidly , PC's may no longer be the center of attention or innovation.Not that we will lose all the tower and LCD's in our home anytime soon.PC's still play a major role in developing countries and among power users as the computing device of choice.HP's move may make sense as it has more corporate customers and is planning on a transition to purely software and systems seller like IBM .

 Right now , it is too early to say whether the move made by HP is a clever one or one taken in desperation.Emerging trends , and HP's future strategy will decide the fate of the once largest PC maker on Earth.

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