WebOS might get bought by Oracle
A new report from Reuters details an unlikely situation where WebOS might be in a position to be bought by HP’s biggest competitor, Oracle. I say unlikely due to the long standing and even recent bad blood between the companies, which would clearly make the negotiation process pretty ugly. Former Oracle CEO Mark Hurd, had an ugly exit from the company which involved a sexual harassment claim and even reports of stolen information and documents.
But, they say that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and both HP and Oracle clearly have their eyes set on taking down its biggest competitor, Google. The tides have turned, and patent wars are all the rage now-a-days. The amount of patents Palm, now HP, owns in the mobile system would give Oracle yet another leg up in their attack on Google. Currently, Oracle is after Google for more than $2 billion over Android’s copyright infringement. This scenario with an Oracle owned WebOS would certainly help Oracle’s chances of putting the hurt on the Android platform.
Unfortunately, this wouldn’t likely benefit the actual WebOS platform (which is a shame) because of the nature of the legal system right now. Patents are a hot commodity, and the more Oracle (and Microsoft and Apple) can leverage over Android, the harder it’ll be for the little green robot to remain a free and open platform. This is obviously not written in stone, but there is definitely some validity to Oracle’s possible thought process on the situation. One thing’s for sure though, WebOS won’t be with HP much longer.
[Reuters]
