HP is spinning off the WebOS division into a new company named Gram

WebOS has had a tough year. Even discounting how badly HP bungled its development and product launches last year, and not counting the fact that they killed off all hardware production in favor of open sourcing the mobile OS, it’s still been a tough year. Essentially all of the original leadership is gone, and most of the important software engineers have left to seek greener pastures. On the heals of that tough year HP now wants to divest the division altogether, according to memos leaked to webOS Nation

That last part may actually hold the key to a second chance for webOS. During an all hands on deck meeting last week, webOS employees reportedly learned that they would be spun off into a new company named Gram. Gram will be funded initially by HP, but as a separate company they would be able to seek out new partners. The transition to Gram finalizes the killing off of the consumer-facing hardware brand, and instead Gram is looking to leverage the “core strengths” of webOS and cloud computing to create a company that will focus on “software, User Experience, Cloud, engineering and partnering.”

Also of note is that Gram has entered “stealth mode”, which is when new startups try to fly under the radar in order to avoid too much attention from large companies that could buy them out or use their greater resources to produce a competitor. Given that Gram employees were told to wear gift shirts with the Gram logo, and that webOS is a well-known product, it’s not exactly clear what Gram hopes to accomplish by going stealth.

Are they hoping to create a new mobile OS? Are they looking to leverage webOS as a new enterprise platform? We’ll be on the lookout and will let you know when more information is available.


source: webOS Nation