HP Will Reportedly Lay Off 500+ WebOS Workers

It shouldn't come as any surprise, but it's depressing nonetheless. With HP's webOS devices division having no new products to work on, the writing was on the wall. According to AllThingsD, HP will be cutting 500 jobs at the webOS department, now that the TouchPad, Pre 3 and the handful of webOS devices that did make it to market will be their last. HP has stated their intentions to continue supporting existing webOS customers, but that won't require an entire development staff around the platform. Tough news, indeed.

According to the report, as many as 525 workers could find themselves without a job by the end of the week. When asked for comment: "As communicated on August 18, HP will discontinue the development of webOs devices within the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ends Oct. 31, 2011. As part of this decision, the webOS GBU is undergoing a reduction in workforce. Today’s actions are part of this initiative. During this time, we stand by our commitment to our webOS customers and will work to ensure that support and service for customers are not adversely affected. HP is exploring ways to leverage webOS software."


Hopefully those bright minds will find their places at other mobile operating system makers -- we could all benefit from the competition.