HP are considering selling webOS only one year after having bought it off Palm, reports Reuters. The mobile operating system, which was the basis for HP’s Touchpad, has been seen as a failure due to lack of developer support and other reasons. Several companies are reportedly interested in buying, with Oracle Corp. said to be among the most likely to make an offer.
The OS was originally bought by HP for an estimated 1.2 billion dollars, and they will be eager to try and limit their losses on what has turned out to be a terrible business decision. The HP Touchpad failed to sell and compete with the iPad, and it was taken off the market soon after by HP.
Samsung and HTC are also rumoured to be interested in the OS, as it would allow them to have their own system and not depend on Android. The asking price is estimated in the hundreds of millions, so HP would have to take a considerable loss on what they originally paid for it just over a year ago.