LG Electronics Acquires webOS from HP to Enhance Smart TV

LG Electronics Acquires webOS from HP to Enhance Smart TV

WebOS was meant to be the platform for HP's smart devices. But after its failure, HP had turned the OS into an open source project. With HP's recent move towards adoption of Android for their tablets in the form of the Slate 7, it was only a matter of time before HP washed its hands clean of WebOS completely. It has now been announced that LG has purchased WebOS from HP.

LG will use WebOS To support its next-generation Smart TV technology. LG has entered into a definitive agreement with HP to acquire the source code, associated documentation, engineering talent and related websites associated with webOS. As part of the transaction, LG also will receive licenses under HP’s intellectual property (IP) for use with its webOS products, including patents acquired from Palm covering fundamental operating system and user interface technologies now in broad use across the industry.

Under the agreement LG will assume stewardship of the open source projects of Open WebOS and Enyo. But HP will retain ownership of all of Palm’s cloud computing assets, including source code, talent, infrastructure and contracts. HP will also continue to support Palm users.

Both HP and LG do not expect this transaction to have a material impact on either company’s financial statements. Terms for the deal have not been disclosed.

Source: LG