Anyone still owning a webOS phone or tablet beware

Oct 16, 2014 12:34 GMT  ·  By

A few years ago, webOS was an up and coming operating system that had a pretty bright future ahead of it, but then Palm made a few bad choices in regards to timing of products and then failed to recover from the ensuing financial crisis.

Ultimately, the company was bought by HP, who made a token effort to try and revive the operating system, then included it on a few printers before it gave up and made it open source.

Still, the company continued to provide support and updates to those people who already owned a smartphone or tablet running webOS.

Now, though, the corporation is ready to throw in the towel at last, and it's going to do it with a degree of finality not often seen in this field.

HP will totally shut down all webOS operations next year

Specifically, HP will officially cease production of new webOS products on January 15, 2015, in addition to terminating all ongoing programs involving it or revolving around it.

No more updates will be revealed after that point, and no new apps will be possible to install on the existing gadgets. Indeed, the app store itself will be shut down.

Furthermore, users will no longer have the option to activate devices, back them up, activate restore points and transfer data via web/data connections.

Keep in mind that HP might still do something with the operating system. It's just that the webOS you knew, the webOS that Palm made, is undeniably heading towards its final death.

“But Palm doesn't even belong to HP anymore,” you might say. “It's with LG now.”

Technically, it's open source, mostly, so it belongs to, well, everybody. But it's also true that LG has begun to incorporate the software into its products.

However, you should remember that the webOS implementation from LG is only available on one or two television sets, and there is no mobile version of it, not from that company.

Also, LG has shown no plans to start a range of smartphones powered by it now that Android and iOS have settled into their positions as major competitors. There's just no room at this party, even with just 2 attendees.

The only other path reports have hinted at is a version of webOS for smartwatches, but LG hasn't confirmed any of that. Not that companies comment on unannounced products, but still, something more concrete than a vague, almost inaudible murmur would have emerged by now if such plans existed for the short term.