HP punts on what to do with WebOS

Heading into a big company meeting late today, the future of WebOs, a technology that was the key reason behind Hewlett Packard's $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm, was cloudy. Now that the meeting has concluded, we can report that the future of its WebOs mobile platform remains cloudy.

Newly-appointed CEO Meg Whitman told all-hands company meeting Tuesday afternoon that no decision had been taken. The company has fared poorly with the WebOS products it has introduced - a couple of smartphones and the TouchPad tablet.

The Verge reports that Whitman said: "It's really important to me to make the right decision, not the fast decision," adding that "If HP decides to do this [to keep webOS], we're going to do it in a very significant way over a multi year period."

Although the WebOS software has been praised by critics, it's largely been ignored by the marketplace. HP had intended to dump to unload the WebOS business as part of a move away from the consumer business. But shortly after Whitman was appointed CEO, she said HP had decided to retain the PC unit. At the time of that announcement, however, she said that HP was still considering what to do with WebOS.

HTC, Amazon, Intel and Research In Motion, among others, have been rumored as interested in buying WebOs.