By 
Sometimes the tech industry has a way of blindsiding us. Sometimes it has a way of blindsiding us twice in the same week. Such was the case when HP announced earlier today that it would cease all of its current webOS operations, including the discontinuation of the newly launched TouchPad tablet. The news follows only days after another major tech industry shocker, the Google buyout of Motorola for some $12.5 billion. So we are posing the question, which came as the bigger surprise? Sound off in the poll and feel free to discuss amongst yourselves in the comments below.
[polldaddy poll=5435345]
I mean there’s 3 big news.
Google buys Motorola Mobility, HP suddenly kills WebOS, and also HP is CONSIDERING killing it’s PC division.
Honestly if HP kills it’s PC division THAT will be the most shocking.
AT THE MOMENT, Google buying up Motorola Mobility was more shocking than HP killing off WebOS.
Now, will Google buy up WebOS?
FYI . . . HP _is_ killing its PC division.
It’s not confirmed yet, it’s considering the idea of spinning it off. We’ll find out tonight.
Selling. A la IBM and Lenovo.
wait… does hp make anything besides PCs or web os stuff?
$12.5 BILLION. Billion, not million
Its not very surprising that Google purchased Motorola…it’s another step towards their eventual world domination where everything has a Google logo on it.
I’ll take Google’s world domination over Apple’s.
google will rule the world very soon you will see
Its not surprising in hindsight. Makes a lot of sense. But how many of us saw it coming? I didn’t.
It’ll be Google and walmart running the world!
Wait, isn’t walmart starting to lose money though? OH GOD HALF THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!
Come on… Who could not predict that HP was going to fold on webOS? Poor sales and even worse reviews spell doom. It could be smelled from a mile away.
100% agree on this one. webOS has struggled for quite some time now. It’s really not all that surprising.
Agreed, everyone knew WebOS was DOA, but what I want to know is what does HP plan on doing with the team that they recently acquired?
12.5 Billion*
As Drybone said, if HP did decide to kill of it’s PC division as it’s considering, then THAT would be the most shocking. I love HP’s products. Dell stuff pisses me off, and Toshiba seems like it needs better quality materials. I’ve not used a Sony, so I can’t say anything for it.
I used to use HP but it seemed they weren’t made to last and always had problems. I now bought a vaio and love it. Works much better and doesn’t have nearly the worries of problems that HP has.
What’s WebOS? ;-)
A Palm developed OS for the Palm Pre phone. Based on Linux. All Html/Css/JavaScript — so you use existing skills to develop apps. Not bad. I liked it until late 2009 when I suddenly recognized that Android would destroy everything else. (Simply because I recognized Android had the right survival of the fittest characteristics, regardless of other problems — and it has some.)
lol
And basically unknown to the general public. Not really a shocker. On the other hand, Google and Motorola are both very well known.
Sheesh..well put :D
google should buy WEBOS
Just Palm’s patents. And Rubenstein can go to Moto to head hardware design, so long as Jha runs the business side of things.
what? so you want some one that has fail twice to head Motorola hardware? Rubentein is very limited minded, he is the reason why web os din’t go any where, with that pre hardware, how hard is it to build an htc sensation like device with web os in it?
I don’t think that’s fair to Rubenstein at all. You’re talking about the guy that invented the iPod! And for that matter, for all of Palm’s problems, they did some really terrific, interesting work. For a company that was really on the rocks, even when he took over, they produced some really interesting products. Sad to see it end.
And then there were 3(In the US)
WP7 may not fail but it won’t succeed either.
It will forever be stuck in market share limbo haunting the dreams of smartphone users everywhere.
4 – Don’t forget RIM, their just as alive as WP7.
The Shocker’s costume was always much more impressive than the villain inside it.
The demise of other mobile OS’s is inevitable. The only one I can see staying around other than the obvious two (Android & iOS), would be RIM and that’s only because of their business orientation. Just my two cents.
The Shocker!!!! :D
You do that to your girl too
I want Google to rule the world mainly because this world ruled by M$ is full of shit!
It’s all double WOW – HP, all that money spent, that high profile tv spots for the touch pad – so glad I didn;t get caught in that – what will a touchpad be on ebay soon $100, $200???
the only thing HP could do that would be a shocker would involve reversing their mission of eliminating jobs in the US while increasing headcount in the 3rd world
It’s a shame, WebOS never had a chance with the hardware Palm paired it with. If HP was making the hardware from the beginning I suspect it would have done a lot better. WebOS was a really fantastic OS that was more open and more polished than Android.
Who the hell needs WebOS for a PRINTER anyway?!?!
that drawing is the most amazing, it’s shocking to say the least….so a major bad guy thinks it’s a good idea to blast electric blasts to an electric box WHILE standing on one foot in water?
I guess it wasn’t that spider-man was so smart, those other guys were just too stupid
HP kills WebOS?
Great, maybe they could work on an Android revival of the OmniGo. I’d be ALL OVER that thing if they actually made it.
Google buying Motorola definitely shocked (and pleased) me, as I figured they would have just licensed their patents. HP discontinuing webOS devices just makes sense though. They produced a monstrous amount without hyping or advertising enough and expected tons of people to just buy it for some odd reason.
No surprise that WebOS is going away. I no more want my OS to be web dependent than I want my alarm clock to be dependent on the reception of my favorite radio station. In both cases, a poor signal ruins my day.