Sam Oliver
If such a deal were to become a reality, it would allow Amazon to make future Kindle hardware based on its own software in webOS, rather than modifying Google's Android platform as it has done with the Kindle Fire, according to VentureBeat. The new color touchscreen Kindle Fire will go on sale this November for $199.
The Kindle Fire runs Google Android, but the software has been heavily redesigned and rethought, leaving very little resemblance to the original Android 2.3 upon which it is built. In fact, on the official page for the Kindle Fire, there's only one reference to Android, mentioning applications available through the Amazon Appstore.
Friday's report noted that former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein, who left his position as Apple's iPod chief in 2005, joined Amazon's board of directors in late 2010. It cited a "well-placed source" as indicating that HP is looking to shed its Palm division as soon as possible, naming Amazon as the closest to purchase among a handful of prospective buyers.
"By purchasing the remnants of Palm, Amazon would have free rein to redesign webOS to its own liking, and it would be able to further differentiate its Kindle devices from the slew of Android tablets in the market," author Devindra Hardawar wrote.
HP bought Palm in April 2010 for $1.2 billion, promising future smartphones and tablets powered by Palm's webOS. But HP's first high-profile webOS product, the TouchPad tablet, failed to gain traction in the market against Apple's iPad, and was discontinued with inventory cleared out in a $99 fire sale.
HP's discontinuation of the TouchPad was part of a corporate shakeup in which the world's largest PC maker revealed it plans to spin off its PC business to focus on selling software. Those changes proved to be a last gasp for ex-CEO Leo Apotheker, who spent less than a year on the job before he was replaced last week by former eBay chief Meg Whitman.
Though Amazon is now said to be in talks to acquire webOS from HP, smartphone maker Samsung was previously named as another company interested in buying the mobile operating system. Later, HTC was also said to be another potential buyer, as Android-based smartphone makers look to differentiate their products from other competing Android devices.
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62 Comments
Now that would have some potential! WebOS is certainly superior to Android (hell my cats litterbox is a better experience and smells less) and Amazon has the content to push. This would make a serious tablet contender. I think the Fire already has some potential, but this would be something altogether different.
If true, I wonder if they plan an upgrade path for the Fire. If not they must think they can make the UI and overall experience nearly identical, or they risk a great deal of product fragmentation.
<edit>Forgot to mention, for all the talk of how superior Android is as a platform from the fandroids, sure sounds like all the companies currently using it are looking to leave for any pretty face. Must be a great platform...
Nah, they already have free reign because they forked android. Now they can do whatever, and besides they have invested too much into the mod to switch. Maybe they buy the IP, if any is left to develop some features more quickly, but webOS is dead and everyone, including HP needs to accept that.
buy them for the patents? most palm employees have been laid off and it's cheaper to just hire them
And then Oracle buys what's left of HP after that.
Larry wants to fire a bunch of execs there.
Amazon is already making waves in the tablet market (OOPS! There is no tablet market, there is only an iPad market, so Amazon is making waves in the iPad market).
But what confuses me is that I thought all 7 inch Ipads (remember, there is no tablet market; there is only an iPad market) would be Dead on Arrival, unless the manufacturer also included sandpaper to turn the users fingertips into a bloody pulp.
We'll see who is correct. Time will tell.
And not covered by AI, Lenovo is going to release a 7 inch Tweener for $200. It will have more features than the DOA Amazon 7 inch iPad. It too will be DOA if Lenovo fails to include sandpaper.
Why do all these companies think that they can sell a Tweener without including sandpaper? Crazy.
</sarcasm>
Now that would have some potential!
Agreed. It seems like a good match.
The tablet market seems to finally be catching fire (pun fully intended). This is good for all consumers. Apple proved that there is a viable category here, and other companies seem to be taking the ball and running with it.
What will be interesting is whether Apple can retain the dominant position like it did in the media player market, or whether it will be relegated to a large niche status, like in the smartphone market.