So, Now HP is Reportedly Shopping Its webOS Business, Any Takers?

Posted 11/08/2011 at 1:13pm | by Paul Lilly

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Remember that whole bit about Hewlett-Packard promising to support webOS and continuing to develop software around the platform? HP said it just wasn't interested in the hardware angle, hence the TouchPad's premature retirement from the tablet market, but had no intentions of abandoning the software. Well, about that. It now appears HP wants to wipe its hands of webOS completely if it can find a willing buyer.

Reuters claims to have heard from "four sources close to the matter" that HP is looking to sell its webOS division as a way to gain back some of the money it spent in the Palm deal, which at this point is looking like a bust. A sale isn't likely to net HP the $1.2 billion it originally paid for Palm, but it could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Finding a willing buyer for webOS won't be the difficult part, it's the haggling over price that could prove challenging. A number of tech firms are reportedly interested in webOS, including Amazon, Research In Motion, IBM, Oracle, and Intel, Reuters heard from its sources. Out of all those, Amazon might be the most intriguing as it looks to make a serious run at the tablet market.