HP kills webOS devices

HP just announced that they are killing the TouchPad / Pre line of webOS devices. The exact wording is "discontinue operations for webOS devices".

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/hp-punts-on-webos-discontinues-touchpad-cuts-outlook/55386

What this means is, I think, HP couldn't sell enough TouchPads, just like Palm found out a couple of years ago that they couldn't sell enough Pre smartphones, and now decided to cut their losses.

I'm quite surprised by the timing of all this. Just one month ago, Jon Rubinstein was being quoted, more or less, as saying HP has a whole host of webOS products coming out -

http://thisismynext.com/2011/07/14/dewitt-rubinstein-interview-exclusive/

Then they announce the TouchPad 4G, and the Pre3 just went on sale a couple of days ago in Europe.

Now, they cancel everything? WTH?

The sad thing about all this is, webOS now looks like it's gonna die, unless HTC or Samsung decide to license it from HP, which seems unlikely, given they are all-in on Android right now (although that could change, given what Google did about a week back).

I was soooo looking forward to the Pre3 and the next-gen TouchPad, particularly for webOS, but now, another potential gem could just be lost to tech history. Damn.

/ac