HTC considers acquiring WebOS or other mobile OS

Posted on Sep 13 2011 - 2:15pm by Thomas Sharp

Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC is considering acquiring Hewlett-Packard’s WebOS or buying another mobile operating system, according to some reports.

According to an interview, Cher Wang, chairwoman of HTC, said that the members of the board have been thinking and looking at options whether the company will buy its own operating system, but ni decisions have been made. HTC has a range of smartphones that run Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating systems.

“We have given it thought, and we have discussed it internally, but we will not do it on impulse,” Wang said in an interview Economic Observer of China. “We can use any OS we want. We are able to make things different from our rivals on the second or third layer of a platform. Our strength lies in understanding an OS, but it does not mean that we have to produce an OS.”

WebOS was a very promising platform that had some distinct advantages over its competitors. HP, however, failed to deliver compelling products and bailed on its first tablet that run the WebOS platform less than seven weeks on the market.

Samsung Electronics was also rumored to be considering acquiring WebOS, but the head of the company denied these rumors. Motorola Mobile was rumored to buy another third party operating system before it was acquired by Google.

Ms. Wang might feel that there’s no need to hurry buying another operating system, after all business is very good with its current phone line-up. If the company is seriously considering buying another OS, they have to do it fast to catch support of developers.

 

via: Forbes

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