MUMBAI: Global consumer durables and electronics maker and marketer LG has acquired Hewlett-Packard‘s mobile operating system WebOS.
As part of the acquisition, LG gets source code for WebOS, related documentation, engineering talent, related WebOS Web sites and HP licenses for use with its WebOS products along with the patents HP obtained from Palm.
The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
LG said that it intends to use the operating system in its smart televisions and not mobile phones. LG is focused on Android as its mobile operating system of choice.
WebOS is an operating system that showed promise but many feel that it was mismanaged by HP. It was supposed to be the feature that would save Palm who then sold it to HP. The operating system‘s luck seemed to flounder further when HP decided to pull the plug on its mobile initiatives in 2012.
The deal isn‘t a complete surprise, with LG already reportedly looking at the platform for use in its products. In fact, the company had been eyeing WebOS for a while.
A media report quoted LG Electronics, president and chief technology officer Skott Ahn saying that the deal "creates a new path for LG to offer an intuitive user experience and Internet services across a range of consumer electronics devices."
The report further said, "WebOS team will make up the heart and soul of the new LG Silicon Valley Lab, with its Sunnyvale, Calif., and San Francisco sites joining LG‘s global R&D locations in the Valley, alongside WebOS offices in San Jose and Chicago."