HP is investigating the sale of the WebOS division. According to a report from Reuters, Research In Motion, among others, are apparently interested in the bid for the company. WebOS technology and Palm’s patents seem to be a right fit for RIM. However, is RIM in a financial position to make such a purchase? Last week, RIM’s stock dropped below book value and their market cap was lower than their assets.
One of the other reported companies expressing interest is Amazon. They are newly venturing into the tablet market, with the release of the Kindle Fire. Time will tell if RIM makes a high enough bid for WebOS. How do you think RIM would utilize WebOS and Palm’s patents for the betterment of BBX?
via ars technica
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Didn’t RIM already copy all the useful parts of WebOS?
Its funny to me.. Everyone reads articles about RIM/BlackBerry and then leave negative comments.. Makes me wonder why these people bother reading
I wonder if the rumours of AMAZON wanting webos is true, they’ve copied enough from RIM to consider having their own OS. Android is definitely more a stop gap for amazon since android apps isn’t a huge priority for them regarding how the kindle fire will be used (at least in the more traditional way).
Personally I doubt RIM would benefit much from buying WebOS other than to keep a similar OS in appearance off the market. What exactly does WebOS have that RIM would benefit from? A few more useless patents here and some interesting HTML 5 code bits?
A few dedicated fans of the OS and devs?
Anyways, I believe Amazon have more to gain from this since they aren’t following anyone when it comes to getting out a tablet and having a tablet with a dedicated OS that they can control will only add to the ECO-SYSTEM that they have grown so steadily over the years.