HP drops another 275 webOS jobs in end of hardware
updated 07:50 pm EST, Tue February 28, 2012
HP webOS group sheds even more staff
Leaks have spread word Friday that HP has cut 275 more webOS team workers. Primarily located around the team's Sunnyvale, California offices, the cuts outlined to AllThingsD would follow a previous 500 from September. An official statement confirmed beliefs that it was a result of open-sourcing webOS and thus not needing either the hardware team or large parts of the software group.
"As webOS continues the transition from making mobile devices to open source software, it no longer needs many of the engineering and other related positions that it required before," HP said. "This creates a smaller and more nimble team that is well-equipped to deliver an open source webOS and sustain HP’s commitment to the software over the long term. HP is working to redeploy employees affected by these changes to other roles at the company."
The fresh round of cuts follows the exit of Jon Rubinstein, former Palm CEO and head of the webOS group for most of its life so far. HP had pinned much of its mobile future on webOS, but the poor six-week stint of the TouchPad led then-HP CEO Leo Apotheker to drop all webOS hardware, a decision at least upheld by current leader Meg Whitman.
She has hinted that webOS tablets might come back at HP, but not until 2013 at the earliest.
