by Ian Uymatiao

After weeks, if not months, of being left in the dark regarding the fate of webOS, a well-regarded mobile platform that never quite got the traction it needed in the market, HP has just recently announced that they are passing the webOS torch to the open source community. As HP writes in its pressrelease, “HP plans to continue to be active in the development and support of webOS. By combining the innovative webOS platform with the development power of the open source community, there is the opportunity to significantly improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices.”

It is an understatement to say that webOS has had it rough in recent years. webOS was originally developed by Palm as a next-generation operating system and successor to the aging Palm OS. In 2009, webOS, as well as its debut device, the Palm Pre, was hyped as the next great rival to the hugely popular Apple iPhone. WebOS contained compelling new features such as multi-tasking, tight cloud syncing and integration, and an intuitive notification system, things the iPhone lacked at the time. Unfortunately, Palm only sold a modest number of Pre devices, and as Android continued to surge in popularity, it became increasingly difficult for webOS to find a foothold in the mobile market.

When HP announced in 2010 that they were buying Palm, there was speculation as to how well webOS would fare under the new leadership. However, dramatic changes in HP’s leadership, as well as lukewarm reviews of HP’s first webOS-based tablet, the TouchPad, threatened to put webOS’s future in jeopardy. Thankfully, HP decided that it was best to hand over webOS to the open-source community, rather than kill the product off altogether.

Even with the recent announcement, we are not really certain as to what the future of webOS is. Although HP’s newly appointed CEO Meg Whitman hinted that we could see more webOS-based tablets in the not-too-distant future, only time will tell as to how webOS will affect the technological landscape at large.

(viaTheVerge)

(photos via examiner.com)