Andre Yoskowitz
24 Oct 2013 22:31
Multiple sources are reporting that HP is actively looking to sell off their mobile-computing patents, with CEO Meg Whitman looking for ways to add cash to the company's reserves.
Part of those patents and intellectual property is WebOS, the defunct smartphone operating system made popular by Palm before it went under and was acquired by Whitman's predecessor.
HP has been removing "restrictive conditions that made the patents unattractive to buyers" say the sources, which should allow for higher prices.
The company, which remains the world's second-largest PC maker, acquired WebOS (and Palm) for $1.2 billion in 2010, with the expectation they would build phones and tablets and use the well-regarded operating system in printers and other hardware. This never happened and the company wrote down the entire acquisition before shutting down the division entirely and open sourcing the code. The code was then sold to LG this year for an undisclosed amount, while HP retained the patents.