The operating system webOS seems on it way to becoming the foster child of the mobile 
world, wandering from one home to the next.
Initially developed by Palm as the successor to its Palm OS for personal data assistants and introduced in January 2009, the Linux-based webOS became part of the Hewlett-Packard family in April 2010 when the company took over struggling Palm.
Now, it could enter a new relationship with top handset-maker HTC, which makes such Android-based devices as the Thunderbolt and Droid Incredible for Verizon and the coming Radar and Titan, running Microsoft 's Windows Phone 7.
No Impulse Buying
Recent comments from the Taiwan-based company's chairwoman, Cher Wang, have been interpreted as signaling that HTC is carefully considering webOS or another platform that could help it differentiate its devices.
"We have given it thought and we have discussed it internally, but we will not do it on impulse," Wang said in an interview with China's Economic Observer. But she emphasized that the company was OK with its present strategy of personalizing its phones running other platforms by adding its HTC Sense interface.
Devices running webOS, such as Palm's Pre, Pixi and Veer made up only 2 percent of the U.S. smartphone market in the second quarter, according to a survey by Gartner Research, while other recent surveys have simply included the system on the "other" category without a share.
HP last month announced its intention to get out of the smartphone and tablet business , and its webOS-based TouchPad was a poor seller until the price was slashed to $99.
Technology consultant Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group said that while webOS has a dedicated fan base, it has been badly managed.
Clues Needed
"Palm's horrid execution was followed by HP's, but even so the HP devices reviewed well, suggesting that a company that had a clue could pull this off," Enderle said. "With Microsoft cutting funding for Windows Phone 7 and Android litigation issues, it appears HTC is going for Door No. 3 and hoping to better match Apple."
He added that since HTC is considered one of the most creative and "Apple-like" of smartphone manufacturers, "The combination could be really interesting."
As tablets raise the value of operating systems beyond phones, manufacturers are becoming increasingly wedded to an OS.
Apple has its own system, iOS, for its iPhone, while Research In Motion last year acquired QNX for its tablets and future smartphones. Google just acquired Motorola Mobility, which rules out any future Windows phones for the company rather than Android. Finnish giant Nokia owns Symbian but is mostly dumping the platform in a major deal with Microsoft to run Windows 7 on most of its devices.
Last year South Korea-based Samsung unveiled its own platform, Bada, which it hopes will "open and extend a new smartphone market."
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