HP ditches WebOS due to poor sales

The current smartphone market is filled with Android, Symbian, iOS and WP7 devices. Very little is known of platforms like webOS which is owned by HP. HP has made attempts to popularize the platform by launching a bunch of of smartphones including the recent HP Pre 3 and the TouchPad tablet. But the company has found it difficult to catch up with the big fishes due to the excessive competition among themselves.

As a matter of fact, none of the platforms considered webOS to be a competitor due to the simplistic and minimalistic approach by HP. And now, all of that has led to the demise of HP webOS.

HP mentioned in a statement “that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. We believe that the poor sales of the recently launched TouchPad led to the vital decision.

HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.”  People generally had high hopes with HP when the company acquired Palm and webOS. But we can’t help but blame the company for being slow starters which gave ample time for other platforms to make merry. Thankfully though, it might not be the last that we’re hearing of webOS. The company showed intent of licensing the webOS platform to other manufacturers back in June. This is something which could benefit the somewhat low key platform.

If some smartphone tycoon snatches up the license for webOS, we could finally see something good made out of the platform. But the question is, will the manufacturers be brave enough to embrace the webOS platform and develop it. As of now, it looks unlikely but it’s hard to predict what the future holds for us.

WebOS, no doubt has a lot of potential. The user interface took us all by surprise way back in 2009 when Palm first showed off the Palm Pre. But as we mentioned earlier, the droids were just more appealing for the users which has now led to the inevitable downfall of webOS.