HP Discontinues WebOS, Purchases Software Firm Autonomy

Well, it’s that time, everyone. Hewlett-Packard is discontinuing the WebOS software and devices running it, which includes the Palm Pre and the HP TouchPad. They released a public statement today stating that they were unhappy with where WebOS was, and that the HP TouchPad tablet running an enhanced version of the WebOS platform had not been as popular as they had expected it to be. That’s sad news for those who like extreme multitasking as well as the tiles in the operating system, considering that HP had just bought Palm primarily for their WebOS software earlier this year. Maybe Research in Motion should buy WebOS from HP, considering they already completely copied the operating system and put it onto their BlackBerry PlayBook.

In other news today, HP bought software firm Autonomy for 10 billion dollars. The news follows long-running rumors that chief executive Leo Apotheker wanted to refocus the company away from its large traditional hardware business into its smaller, more profitable software branch. For those of you who don’t know, Autonomy was founded by a group of researchers at Cambridge University, specializing in pattern-recognition technology. However, there has been no statement saying why HP bought the firm.