Early today when HP announced it was closing shop on webOS hardware we began to speculate over possible hardware partners for the waning OS. Apparently HP engineers had begun experimenting with possibilities long before the announcement. The Next Web is reporting that a source “close to the subject” has first hand knowledge of webOS running on Apple hardware. Even more shocking? The iPad 2 runs webOS twice as fast as the HP TouchPad.
The official word reads as follows, “with a focus on web technologies, webOS could be deployed in the iPad’s Mobile Safari browser as a web-app; this produced similar results, with it running many times faster in the browser than it did on the TouchPad.”
In addition to this shocking revelation, the source confirmed previous claims which suggested the webOS team wanted HP’s TouchPad and Pre hardware “gone” even before the product hit the marketplace. Despite its failure in producing quality hardware, HP still holds a valuable asset.
While it’s unlikely that Apple would ever run webOS software on any of its hardware outside of a web browser, there’s dozens of Android tablet vendors who could benefit from an expanded product portfolio. The question is not whether HP can find hardware for webOS, it’s whether or not the platform can attract developers. No apps, no dice.
via 9to5Mac
