The fate of webOS has been decided. Well, at least for now. HP decided to open source webOS and let the community drive the mobile OS in future. HP will keep on contributing development resources though, and even new HP hardware is a possibility.

Competition is always good, and I would love to see webOS finally get the attention it deserves. Making webOS a success is not an easy task. It was a modern and innovative OS when it was released a few years ago, but the market has evolved. Google, Microsoft and Apple worked hard on their operating systems to create incredible mature products. On the other hand webOS was stalled for the past year due to all the turbulences in regards to Palm and later HP. So we have to wait and see how this plays out. I think this was the most fitting decision HP could take considering the whole situation. Now webOS has a chance to survive and become a true (open source) alternative to the existing operating systems.