News flash: LG Acquires webOS from HP to enhance its line of Smart TVs.
Now we can ad LG to the list of companies that have been associated with the webOS, one of the more promising, but, so far, disappointing cross-platform operating systems. When Meg Whitman was hired at HP and made webOS an open source project, I actually had high hopes for webOS.
Now that LG has acquired it from HP, we’ll just have to wait and see what LG’s game plan will be. We do know, from the announcement, that LG intends to use webOS to power its smart TV’s. But webOS has way too many features to be used solely in smart TVs. This is an operating system that was originally designed for mobile devices (I own one HP Touchpad), and has been ported to standard desktops.
I can’t say too much here until more information comes from LG. So far, there has been no public reaction from the folks involved in the Open webOS.
Here’s the juicy bits from LG’s announcement.
To support its next-generation Smart TV technology, LG has entered into a definitive agreement with HP to acquire the source code, associated documentation, engineering talent and related websites associated with webOS. As part of the transaction, LG also will receive licenses under HP’s intellectual property (IP) for use with its webOS products, including patents acquired from Palm covering fundamental operating system and user interface technologies now in broad use across the industry.
Today’s announcement paves the way for continued innovation on the webOS platform and on LG’s roadmap of innovative solutions for many years to come, while allowing HP to focus its resources on strategic business opportunities such as cloud computing.
…
LG will assume stewardship of the open source projects of Open WebOS and Enyo.
