DailyTech - Samsung CEO Says Company Would "Never" Buy WebOS

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Software Samsung CEO Says Company Would "Never" Buy WebOS
Tiffany Kaiser - September 2, 2011 12:36 PM

22 comment(s) - last by theapparition.. on Sep 6 at 1:31 PM

Samsung Chief Executive Officer Choi Gee Sung said the company will "never" consider purchasing HP's webOS (Source: engadget.com)

Samsung, instead, is remaining focused on its Android-related offerings as well as its own operating system, Bada

Last month, Hewlett-Packard announced that it was killing off its webOS platform as well as its TouchPad tablets. It began selling off its remaining TouchPad inventory at prices as low as $99, sparking a frenzy of sales.

Even before the announcement, Hewlett-Packard President and CEO Léo Apotheker said HP may license webOS to phonemakers, where Samsung and Research In Motion (RIM) were potential targets.

Also, industry researchers such as IDC had mentioned that Samsung may want to boost software assets by purchasing webOS after HP made its announcement.

Today, Samsung rejected any speculation that it intended to purchase webOS for its handsets and tablets. In fact, Samsung Chief Executive Officer Choi Gee Sung said the company will "never" consider this deal according to Bloomberg News.

"It's not right that acquiring an operating system is becoming a fashion," said Choi at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin, Germany.

Samsung, instead, is remaining focused on its Android-related offerings as well as its own operating system, Bada, which was recently added to three of its new phones including the Wave 3, Wave M and Wave Y.

Rumors have also circulated that Facebook and HTC may be interested in the software as well, but neither have confirmed nor denied these claims.

Nevertheless, HP continues to search for partnerships and licensing deals with manufacturers that could potentially use the software in their devices. According to Ovum Ltd., an industry analyst that specializes in IT, communications and telecommunications, HP will not likely find a partner because webOS will not be able to compete with other operating systems. Without HP, the app catalog for webOS will be very limited and software updates will be quite rare.

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It's a format war

By vision33r on 9/2/2011 2:51:43 PM , Rating: 2

I don't care how slick WebOS is, it's got no support and no apps. What good is a slick OS with zero app support?

Remember Archos had a web pad in 2008 way before the iPad and all it's good for was web surfing.

iPad is infinitely more fun to use because apps make it useful, the OS is hardly a factor.

RE: It's a format war

By phatboye on 9/2/2011 3:47:31 PM , Rating: 2

while I agree with your assessment that developer support for 3rd party apps can drastically improve the ecosystem of a particular environment, saying that the OS is hardly a factor is just plain wrong.

Proof of this can be seen in WM7 which has a ton of apps but for some reason isn't selling very well. Not to say that WM7 isn't good, just pointing out that the OS does make a huge difference.

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RE: It's a format war

By ClownPuncher on 9/2/2011 4:52:15 PM , Rating: 2

As does marketing, more so.

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RE: It's a format war

By corduroygt on 9/2/2011 6:40:54 PM , Rating: 2

Since most of the "Apps" people desire to have on their tablets are games, I'll point out that there is a great SNES emulator available for the TouchPad and then you can get your ROMS (for the carts you already own of course) wherever you want...I'd like a Netflix app and to have MSN and Facebook messaging integrated to the built in messaging to make it close to perfect.

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RE: It's a format war

By V-Money on 9/2/2011 7:58:56 PM , Rating: 2

I don't think WM7 is really proof, I think its the negative image around windows phones. For instance, I bought a Palm Treo Pro with Win 6 on it as my first smartphone. I loved the phone itself, but Win 6 made me ditch it after a couple months. I switched to a Nexus one and never looked back. I hear great things about Win 7 and I love my Zune so it's enticing, but why would I even consider switching when my Cyanogen modded Nexus one is still running strong. While lots of apps doesn't necessarily mean lots of sales, few apps generally relates to fewer sales.

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RE: It's a format war

By dark matter on 9/4/2011 7:59:06 AM , Rating: 2

Ah you don't care.

Well then guys, that's it, he doesn't care.

Might as well pack up and go home.

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WebOS for sale

By W00dmann on 9/2/2011 3:19:54 PM , Rating: 2

Samsung won't be buying WebOS? Good, less competition for me. My bid stands at $1. Do you think HP will sell it to me?

RE: WebOS for sale

By corduroygt on 9/2/2011 3:34:09 PM , Rating: 2

I see your $1 and raise it to $1K. Upon buying the software I'd immediately make it open source and people could hack their devices any way they like but it would be up to a committee headed by me to review and release the official version.

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RE: WebOS for sale

By W00dmann on 9/2/2011 3:44:52 PM , Rating: 2

D'OH! I've been outbid! I raise you to $1K plus a candy bar.

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RE: WebOS for sale

By cjohnson2136 on 9/2/2011 4:02:20 PM , Rating: 2

I raise you 1k plus 1 candy bar and a soda

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RE: WebOS for sale

By W00dmann on 9/2/2011 4:20:35 PM , Rating: 2

Man the competition here is intense. Ok how about $1K, a candy bar, a soda, and Tickle-me-Elmo? Anybody ought to be happy with that deal.

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RE: WebOS for sale

By dark matter on 9/4/2011 7:57:50 AM , Rating: 2

You mean the open source would be free, but the tools and the methods for using it or modifying it would cost...

Oh, sounds like Oracle.

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Shame

By corduroygt on 9/2/2011 1:45:19 PM , Rating: 3

I find WebOS on my $99 Touchpad to be an excellent alternative to iOS and miles better than Android, it just needs some more optimization and refinement. It could really use the support of a major manufacturer.

RE: Shame

By Chadder007 on 9/2/2011 2:20:20 PM , Rating: 2

Yep, and tons better than Bada.

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Please tell me...

By Motoman on 9/2/2011 12:48:06 PM , Rating: 3

...that the CEO's friends call him "Sam."

hmm

By kleinma on 9/2/2011 1:41:54 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
Samsung, instead, is remaining focused on its Android-related offerings as well as its own operating system, Bada.

Does that mean they are not focused on Windows 7 phone, since they do make those you know... ironically enough, their windows phone is called the "focus"...

Re: software sales

By wallijonn on 9/2/2011 5:26:28 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
According to Ovum Ltd., an industry analyst that specializes in IT, communications and telecommunications, HP will not likely find a partner because webOS will not be able to compete with other operating systems.

If HP can't even sell off WebOS, what makes them think that they'll be able to sell Enterprise software?

softwares

By Softwinc on 9/4/2011 4:58:56 PM , Rating: 2

KLEYGEN officekey . blogspot . com/

Android blows...

By Cerin218 on 9/2/11, Rating: -1

By Cerin218 on 9/2/2011 2:33:08 PM , Rating: -1

Just another crappy variation of linux. Linux is a great idea with crappy implementation that only 5% of the population on the planet can use effectively.

WebOS was beautiful in it's simplicity. It did wat the normal dumb user needed to do, and if you knew how, it was even more powerful customized. Palm had a beautiful idea that they stupidly coupled with poor hardware. Put WebOS on an HTC and you'd have a thing of beauty, but no one was going to develop for a system with ONE handset like Palm tried to do. I had high hopes with HP buying it, but HP seems to want to destroy itself, so guess that wouldn't happen. A "card" based multitasking system was the best idea for a touch phone. But I guess a brilliant system will go down the drain because people want to support crap like Android and are happy with the mediocrity of iOS. As long as Adroid is linux like, it will suffer from the problems of Linux, mainly too many flavors being developed by too wide a community resulting in disjointed products. Cut it to one or two flavors it would be great. WebOS is superior for a touch based device. Too bad it died before it ever got going. And suck it HP for giving us hope you would do something useful. And too bad Samsung for not recognizing a diamond in the rough.

RE: Android blows...

By phatboye on 9/2/2011 3:43:06 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
Just another crappy variation of linux. Linux is a great idea with crappy implementation that only 5% of the population on the planet can use effectively.
...

As long as Adroid is linux like, it will suffer from the problems of Linux, mainly too many flavors being developed by too wide a community resulting in disjointed products.

I hate to burst your ignorant bubble but WebOS, like and Android, is based off Linux. So please don't bring Linux into this as this has nothing to do with Linux but your preference toward WebOS over Android.

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RE: Android blows...

By theapparition on 9/6/2011 1:31:14 PM , Rating: 2

Even OSX and iOS are based on Linux, which further strengthens your counterpoint.

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RE: Android blows...

By drycrust3 on 9/3/2011 9:42:14 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
As long as Adroid is linux like, it will suffer from the problems of Linux, mainly too many flavors being developed by too wide a community resulting in disjointed products.

When you go any of your local businesses you will find they fall into one of two sorts: 1) those which are one of a chain, and 2) those where the owner runs the business. While there is a place in business for multinational companies, there is also a place for locally owned and run businesses.
In the same way, just because Linux looks fragmented doesn't mean that is bad, in fact it isn't bad, it is good. This is because it means people are exercising their right to choose one of the mainstream ones or to develop their own OS.

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