LOL, Googorola…
In the wake of Google's megadeal to acquire Motorola Mobility, it's only natural to evaluate what this means for the other key players in the wireless space. One of the trickiest to figure out is what the deal could mean for Hewlett-Packard and its nascent webOS business. Given the fears that some have over what Google's control of Motorola could mean for other Android makers, some have suggested the deal might leave the door open for Hewlett-Packard to get more aggressive about licensing its webOS to other device makers.
On one hand, HP has said it is open to some licensing of webOS. That said, the company explained at the time that it was mainly talking about those interested in taking the operating system into new areas, as opposed to those that would compete in the tablet and phone space. Indeed, licensing webOS would put phone makers in the same position they may find themselves in with Google — that is, competing against the same company whose software they are using. This, tech historians note, is not something that has tended to work well in the tech industry. Apple briefly licensed the Mac operating system, but ultimately pulled the plug on that effort. Palm itself tried to be both hardware maker and licensee, sharing its software with Sony and Handspring, among others. Eventually, though, it found that relationship too complicated, and tried to split off its operating system and hardware businesses. |
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