

Samsung May Buy webOS - Naklsonofnakkl
http://www.tekgoblin.com/2011/08/29/samsung-may-buy-webos/

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untog
Nowhere here (or on the TechCrunch article it copies) does it mention that
Samsung has it's own smartphone OS: Bada.

It, like WebOS, is Linux-based, so there are possible opportunities to merge
them. But it just seems like incredibly lazy journalism that no-one even
mentions Bada's existence.

~~~
Naklsonofnakkl
it wasn't a matter of ignoring Bada's existence, it was just the fact that the
OS itself isn't doing well enough to be a competitor in the smartphone market.
While Bada has plenty of apps and a solid build, when compared to iOS or
Android is doesn't come close to worth, Bada is lacking a lot of things that
iOS and Android came with in the beginning. Samsung might try to merge the
looks and functionality of webOS and the applications and customer base of
Bada, but at this point it doesn't feel as though Bada or Samsung will last
very long unless they bring something new to the table.

~~~
untog
That's not really the point, though. To write an article about a smartphone OS
that Samsung may buy without making a single reference to the smartphone OS
they _already own_ doesn't make sense.

There are a ton of integration issues (both in code and in personnel, should
they get anyone from Palm) that might affect their decision.

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ansy
Samsung is not a M&A company. That really hurts the chances of this happening
even if there are forces within Samsung and HP pushing for it. The top
management is skeptical of successful mergers, and at a tightly controlled
company such as Samsung that makes a big difference.

I still contend the best buyer of webOS would be Google. The patents are gold,
the price is probably right, it eliminates the possibility of a partner
turning into a competitor, and the talent would integrate easily. Everyone's
already in the valley. Just shut down webOS for good, put the developers on
Android or ChromeOS, and tell consumers to look forward to great webOS
features making it into future Android and ChromeOS releases.

~~~
darklajid
What a sad idea. That's exactly what I _don't_ hope for.

\- No, Google shouldn't get WebOS. I lose confidence in Google every day..

\- No, please don't rip WebOS (the IP) apart because of patents

\- ChromeOS is more of a joke than WebOS ever was and is really the project
that should die to bring more resources to Chrome or Android. What a waste..

You're making sense, maybe, from a business point of view. But for me this is
just crazy and falls into the 'let us buy out a start-up, bury anything they
did so far and hope that the people stay with us and work on other things we
consider cool' category. Which works, sometimes.

Still - I hate those 'solutions'.

------
RexRollman
I would like to see webOS continue but has any commercial OS, not controlled
by a US based company, done well in America?

~~~
beagle3
Ubuntu Linux is doing reasonably well in America, as does Debian (neither
controlled by a US based company).

A mobile phone OS? I think the Psion was doing ok in its day -- the operating
system was later named "Symbian" and run a few hundred million Nokia phones,
although it is not doing so well anymore.

