Employees who are part of HP"s failed webOS hardware division will be getting some bad news this week. AllthingsD.com has confirmed that HP will lay off a number of workers associated with that section of its business. The company issued a statement on Monday that said as part of its recent business decisions:
... the webOS GBU is undergoing a reduction in workforce. Today’s actions are part of this initiative. During this time, we stand by our commitment to our webOS customers and will work to ensure that support and service for customers are not adversely affected. HP is exploring ways to leverage webOS software.
The story claims, via unnamed sources, that HP could lay off as many as 525 employees from the webOS division this week, but the company has yet to confirm specific layoff numbers.
HP shut down production of future webOS-based hardware devices back in mid-August, due primarily to the sales failure of its heavily hyped HP Touchpad tablet. However, HP will create one final production run of the TouchPad later this year. This was due to HP cutting the price of the tablet drastically, and as a result sales of the device finally took off.
HP has already hinted strongly that it is looking to license its webOS operating system to third party companies. HP purchased the webOS division as part of its acquisition of the Palm company back in April 2010, but failed to release products that generated a lot of interest from the public.