HP today has began to lay off its employees from the Palm division. The company said that reductions were part of the recent decision to totally end webOS and that this decision was to be executed by Oct 31. HP’s move comes after its disastrous launch of the TouchPad which had dismal sales and was eventually discounted to 99$.
Sources close to the company say that as many as 500 workers may be affected. HP paid $1.8 billion to buy webOS creator Palm in 2009 and is reported to be one of the worst business decisions ever. It is not that it was a bad buy, it was just that the market was not warmed up to the Palm which was simply dumped on the market with the over priced tablet which the market did not appreciate.
The company says it will continue to support existing customers and is exploring other avenues for webOS. Bringing webOS to PCs has been mentioned as a possibility.