HP is apparently still trying to figure out what to do with its webOS operating system. The OS, which HP acquired when it purchased Palm for $1.5 billion back in 2010, is basically in a state of limbo after Thursday"s announcement that HP would cancel production of all webOS related products. As it turns out, that"s not entirely accurate. PCMag.com reports that the Pre3 smartphone, the last vestige of the Palm smartphone family, will still be sold in the UK and France. The phone will be sold for about $75 in those countries. The Pre3 has already been sold in Germany but is now sold out. The phone will not be put on sale here in the US.
HP has already said that while it may be abandoning webOS hardware development it still has some kind of plans for the operating system itself. In a chat with AllThingsD.com, HP"s webOS head man Stephen DeWitt confirmed that the company still has plans to put webOS in future PC and printers from HP. However he would not comment on exactly when this will happen, saying, "We’ll announce exactly what the rollout is when we are ready to.”
As for the HP TouchPad, which is now ironically selling very well now that HP has cut its price down to the bone, DeWitt claims that HP will issue updates to the tablet along with its previously released Veer webOS-based smartphone. He also admitted that HP could have done a better job in explaining what the company has planned for webOS since last week"s announcements, saying, "We have a lot of work to do in terms of communicating more clearly what was shared with the public last week."