HP will retain webOS’s patents and license certain technology to LG, HP Chief Operating Officer Bill Veghte said in an interview Monday. LG Electronics, the world’s second-largest maker of TVs, plans to put the technology into Web-connected sets as early as next year, said Skott Ahn, the company’s president and chief technology officer.
HP bought WebOS in 2010 through the $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm Inc. The computer maker shut down Palm in 2011 after abandoning a plan to compete in the market for tablets and smartphones. Meg Whitman, who took over as HP’s CEO just after that decision, has been working to salvage some value from the Palm deal.
LG will pay HP an undisclosed amount for the webOS code and “many, many dozens” of engineers in Silicon Valley, and acquire an open-source software version of the operating system called Open webOS, Veghte said.
LG, which ships smart TVs using its own software and Google Inc.’s Google TV, will incorporate WebOS into future products, though not those arriving this year, said Ahn. The company may also use use webOS in home appliances, he said.
“We’d like to improve our platform using WebOS,” he said. The company is planning to increase television sales 15 percent this year by offering sets with new display technology and more advanced functions.
