Rumor: HP Considers WebOS Sale Again

So far, WebOS has failed at every turn. The operating system failed at Palm when the company tried to put it inside a new smartphone. HP paid big money for Palm after that failure to the tune of $1.2 billion just to get WebOS. HP turned around and tossed the OS onto a tablet only to see it fail miserably and leave the market after only about a month on sale. The only mild success that WebOS has recorded was when the HP Touchpad tablets went on the sub-$100 fire sale.

There are rumors circulating again that HP is considering selling off WebOS. According to Reuters, the deal could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. HP will undoubtedly be left with some negative equity. There is little chance that it will get the $1.2 billion back in a sale of WebOS that it paid for Palm. Apparently, the appeal that some firms are seeing in WebOS is the patents that come with it more than a desire to put the operating system into another product.

Names that are connected with the purchase rumor include Oracle Corp according to an unnamed source. HP is said to be getting advice on the sale from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as it weighs the benefits of selling or keeping WebOS. HP was rumored late last month to be considering shutting WebOS down.

[via Reuters]