HP decided to stop producing tablets and smartphones based on webOS.
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/50543.php
It is really a sad yet harsh footnote to the cell phone industry. I wonder what webOS folks would think if they look at the history of Google purchasing Android, Inc. and the rise of Android phones. A little more than four years (August 2005 to April 2010) separated the fate of the two companies. Should I say the vision and execution of a company made such differences? Excellent technologies can go only so far.
Now HP is going back to a Business-to-Business (B2B) company. Look back not too far into HP's history. Carly Fiorina took HP past the point of no return to a PC OEM company. The low-margin yet big-volume business impacted the company culture so much that the next CEO wanted a strategy for consumer products. Or is it the big share of PC revenue demanded a consumer product oriented CEO? So the next CEO, Mark Hurd, bought Palm and webOS. When Mr. Hurd left HP, the CEO followed, Léo Apotheker, decided otherwise. People can say anything about his decision on discontinuing webOS. But no one can say he made a wrong decision in buying Palm/webOS, because it was not his decision. That fact makes him safe to call the shot in front of the board.
I registered as a webOS developer almost as soon as it is open to the public. My attention to the platform however diminished as it has never gathered enough momentum. I hope this blog will not become an obituary for webOS. But hope against hope, who is to challenge Apple's supremacy of vertical integration?
