Samsung rumored to buy webOS to compete with Apple’s iOS, Mac OS X
[Via AppleInsider]
In an effort to more directly compete with Apple’s integrated hardware-software approach, Samsung is rumored to be interested in buying webOS from Hewlett-Packard.
[More]
And where would Android now fall?
There’d be Apple, making its own handsets with its own OS, Samsung making its own handsets with its own OS and Microsoft/Nokia making its own handsets with its own OS.
Will Google now simply fold Android into Motorola, making its own handsets with its own OS in direct competition but leaving behind all those who licensed Android? And leave all those licensees hanging in the wind?
Four sets of hardware and integrated software. Which one will have an advantage over the others?
Only Apple and Microsoft have a history of producing both excellent software and great hardware. SNeither Google nor Samsung have been able to demonstrate success at such a integrated device.
And this goes beyond smartphones but also includes tablets and upcoming devices. Only Apple and perhaps Microsoft have any background in creating the ecosystems needed to produce all the novel devices in the pipeline.
Not a great forward path for either Google or Samsung.
A Man With A Ph.D. 