Hewlett-Packard announced today that it will sell webOS to LG Electronics. HP originally purchased the mobile operating system from Palm for $1.2 billion in 2010.
LG intends to use the operating system inside its “smart” TVs. The South Korean company had already worked with HP on webOS prior to making an offer. Reuters reports that LG will acquire webOS’s source code, associated documentation, engineering talent, websites, and licenses under HP’s intellectual property, including patents relevant to fundamental operating system and user interface technology. HP will retain the patents relevant to the cloud service aspects of webOS. The companies have not yet revealed more aspects of the deal. For the time being, LG will keep the webOS team in Silicon Valley and continue to operate out of HP offices.
HP released one device running webOS, the TouchPad , back in 2011. HP decided to discontinue the device after only a month on store shelves. There was little demand for the device at the same, as it was priced at the same level as Apple’s iPad. When HP reduced the price to $99 to sell out its remaining inventory, the device sold out across both online and physical stores seemingly overnight.
Last year HP opened up webOS to developers and companies in hopes of finding a way to recover its investment in Palm. With the decision to sell webOS to LG, it looks as though HP may have found a way.
