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HP splits webOS GBU: keeps software, leaves hardware with PSG

HP splits webOS GBU: keeps software, leaves hardware with PSG

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For the second time in its long and tumultuous history, Palm -- or as it's known now, the webOS Global Business Unit -- has been split in two. PreCentral has two memos detailing how the hardware and software portions of webOS are being separated. The software side of webOS is getting pulled out of the Personal Systems Group and moved into HP's "Office of Strategy and Technology." That essentially means that HP is going to hang on to webOS (and, presumably, Palm's valuable patents) after the PSG spins off or gets sold. The vice president of the OST is Shane Robinson, who will oversee webOS along with Ari Jaaski and Richard Kerris. All three will their work cut out for them finding a home for webOS now that Samsung and HTC have bowed out.

The hardware division will remain with the Personal Systems Group under the recently-installed VP Stephen DeWitt. That entire group is up for some hard times, though. HP has discontinued all hardware, so it's probable that these employees are going to be laid off at some point in the near future. Hopefully all that experience building the TouchPad Go and the never-announced Windsor Not keyboard-less Evo competitor will make finding new jobs a bit easier. It's even possible that many within the division will end up getting reassigned within the PSG. That division's future remains cloudy, however. HP has started a new campaign to signal its strong desire to spin off the division into a new company, but to say the market isn't responding well to HP's messaging here would be an understatement.

Source: PreCentral