WebOS - SlashGear

‘webOS’ Stories

IDC: Tablets beat estimates, Android down, iOS up, Amazon’s tablet is actually an e-reader

Rue Liu, Sep 14th 2011 Discuss [3]

Research firm IDC released some interesting data this morning regarding tablet shipments for Q2 of 2011 as well as predictions for the second half of the year. Beating estimates, tablet shipments are now expected to reach 62.5 million in 2011, up from the original forecast of 53.5 million units. Apple's iPad 2 shipments continue to surge as Android slips and RIM enters. WebOS share will disappear by Q1 of 2011 and the much anticipated Amazon tablet is actually an e-reader. Read The Full Story

Qualcomm sidesteps webOS acquisition questions

Chris Davies, Sep 14th 2011 Discuss [2]

Qualcomm has become the latest company to be questioned around its webOS intentions, with CEO Paul Jacobs suggesting at IQ2011 this morning that the platform is "a little up in the air at the moment" but not denying any acquisition possibilities outright. Asked at the annual innovation showcase whether Qualcomm was interested in buying webOS from HP, which announced plans to axe development of smartphones and tablets like the Pre3 and TouchPad earlier this year, the CEO lamented the platform's fading star. "We do like the idea that webOS would continue" Jacobs admitted, "we put a lot of effort into that relationship." Read The Full Story

HTC “discussed internally” acquiring own Android alternative

Chris Davies, Sep 12th 2011 Discuss [15]

HTC is internally discussing the potential purchase of a mobile OS, though the company is at pains to point out that no decision on its software plans has been taken. “We have given it thought and we have discussed it internally” HTC chair Cher Wang said in an interview recently, Focus Taiwan reports, “but we will not do it on impulse.” The company has previously been tipped as a potential suitor for webOS, though so far HP has insisted it has no intention to sell the platform.

Read The Full Story

HP TouchPad (briefly) up for sale in UK again

Chris Davies, Sep 9th 2011 Discuss [2]

The discontinued HP TouchPad has turned up in stock at UK retailer PC World, though it's unclear how long supplies of the webOS tablet will last. Priced at £249.99 ($398) for the 32GB TouchPad with the wireless charging dock and case - the 16GB bundle sold out in short order - the cost is a long way off the $99.99 bargain US shoppers were treated to last month. Read The Full Story

HP TouchPad backorders shipping in 6 to 8 weeks

Rue Liu, Sep 7th 2011 Discuss [2]

HP sent an email to customers today, informing them of a 6- to 8-week wait for the backordered HP TouchPad tablets. The tablet has been sold out at retailers and on HP's website after the $99 fire sale that followed HP's announcement of discontinuing WebOS. Many customers that ordered through HP at the fire sale pricing are still waiting for the device as HP plans one last production run. Read The Full Story

HP hawked PC business to Samsung and LG in 2010

Chris Davies, Sep 7th 2011 Discuss [6]

HP shopped its PC business around to Samsung, LG and others late last year, it's been alleged, pushing the idea that the PSG (Personal Systems Group) would compliment other consumer electronics offerings of rival firms. While HP only publicly revealed its plans to spin off the PSG last month, a CNET source claims that the company was canvassing potential Korean suitors months in advance. However, it seems HP's sales skills fell short. Read The Full Story

HP TouchPad gets Android port multitouch support

Shane McGlaun, Sep 7th 2011 Discuss [9]

I would wager that none of the hard-core tech guys and gals were surprised that the HP TouchPad with webOS failed. I think most of us knew that would happen when we first heard that webOS was coming to a tablet. I never understood why HP though with the WebOS smartphones not doing well that a tablet would do well. If you are the owner of a TouchPad, there is a lot of work on getting the tablet to run Android underway. Early ports like the CyanogenMod could boot, but the touchscreen didn’t function. Read The Full Story

Featured

Samsung’s Gavin Kim Makes Clear Stance on webOS, Confirms Galaxy S II Release Limits

Chris Burns, Sep 3rd 2011 Discuss [2]

This week at Samsung’s Galaxy S II announcement event in New York City, Vice President of Samsung’s Consumer & Enterprise Services Gavin Kim spoke briefly with SlashGear on a couple of rather relevant subjects: Samsung’s future with webOS (or lack thereof) and the future of the Galaxy S II in the USA. Having a keen sense of what the press and the public might have a wild heyday with as far as official statements go, Kim refrained from making any breaking fact drops or, as I might call it, Electropolitical gaffes. Instead Kim reinforced our already strong faith in the Samsung Telecommunications brand by noting that it was the market that decided where Samsung would make its next set of moves.

Read The Full Story

HP to split webOS team as software enters incubator division

Chris Davies, Sep 3rd 2011 Discuss [5]

HP apparently intends to split the webOS Global Business Unit into two, pushing the webOS software side over to the Office of Strategy and Technology while the ex-Palm hardware arm stays a part of the Personal Systems Group. The division, leaked by two internal HP emails passed to PreCentral, will leave HP free to license off webOS to other companies without the competition of the same group developing devices with it. Alternatively, it could be a simpler way for HP to close the door on its webOS hardware altogether. Read The Full Story

Samsung would “never” buy WebOS, says CEO

Rue Liu, Sep 2nd 2011 Discuss [1]

Samsung CEO Choi Gee Sung has adamantly denied rumors that the South Korean company has any interest in purchasing HP's WebOS. Speculation started brewing that Samsung would be one of the top contenders for the platform after HP announced that it would be discontinuing WebOS hardware to consider licensing the software instead. There was also the possibility that HP would sell the unit entirely. Read The Full Story

Woot Offers TouchPad Buyers $100 and Star Wars Defense

Chris Burns, Sep 1st 2011 Discuss [2]

If you're an avid South Park fan like every good god-fearing American in North America and myself are, you remember the episode in which there's a court case that lawyer Johnnie Cochran wins by using the Chewbacca defense, a method in which he speaks about the Star Wars character tied to several factoids about his living situation in order to utterly confuse the jury and ultimately win the case. It appears today that the folks at Woot are pulling a similar hilarious trick, this time using Chewbacca's good friend Lando Calrissian, and in this case offering early adopter purchasers of the HP TouchPad a $99 partial refund for their troubles in order to make them less mad at the fact that they payed full price before the recent fire sale of said tablet. Read The Full Story