Oracle Considering Buying webOS from HP
Once upon a time in 2010, HP purchased a little company called Palm for the (bargain?) price of $1.2 billion dollars. Flash forward through a failed attempt at mobile devices and HP is left with a considerable investment and no current plans to use it. It’s the technology equivalent of all dressed up with nowhere to go.
So now, with a Meg Whitman at the helm as their new CEO, HP has to make some tough decisions on which products and services they want to stick with and which they want to abandon. Given the success of their other product lines, if the possibility exists to recoup some of their investment costs, it may make good sense to offload webOS. If rumors are to be believed, Oracle is offering HP this possibility.
Even if the sale only fetches the suggested few hundred million dollars it would still be money in the bank for HP instead of a whole pile of potential gathering dust on a shelf somewhere. It may not be a coincidence that the current CEO of Oracle is Mark Hurd, the former CEO of HP either. Chances are good he has the ability to be a little forward-thinking when it comes to how this could mutually benefit both companies.
If it turns out that Oracle isn’t interested some analysts feel that there are a few other companies that could stand to gain something from grabbing webOS, suggesting HTC, Samsung, Amazon or even FaceBook. By owning an operating system, HTC and Samsung could more closely tailor their existing hardware lines and avoid paying licensing fees for Android, but this switch midstream may not appeal to consumers. Amazon seems less likely with their ties to Android and their existing app store, but ownership would carry certain freedoms and advantages. FaceBook has seen a lot of rumors lately marrying them to Apple so a move to purchase webOS would be a bit of a shock, but Zuckerberg does love his curve-balls.
Selling webOS may not be the end of HP’s relationship with the operating system either. Oracle is a software company and is going to need some hardware to run their new baby on… see where I am going with this?
[via paidcontent.org]