http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/28/hp-buys-palm/
So it looks like webOS isn't dying but may actually flourish with a lot more capital behind it; my guess is that HP saw what Dell was working on in WM7 / Android land and wanted to do something other than a me-too smartphone themselves.
And, of particular historical note, the makers of the greatest pre-smartphone-era PDA brands, the Palm Tungsten and the HP iPAQ, are now now united under one banner - it's like Microsoft buying Apple in that sense.
Platform-wise, I think this means we may have a real party going in 2011 - Windows Phone 7's prospects may actually dim a bit with this, but with RIM's fairly promising-looking BlackBerry OS 6 announcement yesterday and webOS getting access to all of HP's money and manufacturing muscle, it seems almost certain that there'll still be some very good smartphone options other than iPhone and Android around next year.
So it looks like webOS isn't dying but may actually flourish with a lot more capital behind it; my guess is that HP saw what Dell was working on in WM7 / Android land and wanted to do something other than a me-too smartphone themselves.
And, of particular historical note, the makers of the greatest pre-smartphone-era PDA brands, the Palm Tungsten and the HP iPAQ, are now now united under one banner - it's like Microsoft buying Apple in that sense.
Platform-wise, I think this means we may have a real party going in 2011 - Windows Phone 7's prospects may actually dim a bit with this, but with RIM's fairly promising-looking BlackBerry OS 6 announcement yesterday and webOS getting access to all of HP's money and manufacturing muscle, it seems almost certain that there'll still be some very good smartphone options other than iPhone and Android around next year.