webOS Not Yet Dead Says HP, But No Definite Plans At This Point

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webOS is not yet dead, according to Hewlett-Packard. This is a follow-up to earlier reports that HP was pulling the plug on its webOS division.

We earlier reported that HP has confirmed retaining its Personal Systems Group — the group that manufactures PCs, notebooks and tablets — as a reversal of earlier plans to spin off its hardware division and focus on enterprise software. However, as HP’s statement did not explicitly include any plans about webOS, rumors were abound that the company was going to jettison its $1.2 billion investment in webOS (as part of HP’s acquisition of Palm in 2010).

HP’s executive vice president for PSG Todd Bradley clarified HP’s current stand on webOS in an interview with Bloomberg. Bradley said that webOS’ demise was an “unfounded rumor” and that it was a “phenomenal software” developed by “phenomenal talent.” Now that the company has confirmed it was not spinning off its PC business, the next logical thing for HP to do “is to determine how we’ll best utilize webOS and those great software assets we have.”

However, at this point, the exact fate of webOS still remains in limbo, as to whether it will be retained within HP, licensed to other manufacturers, or maybe even sold to another company. At this juncture, Bradley says that HP wants to weigh their options and take into consideration all the data and information before making a final decision.

So even if HP will still continue building tablet computers like the TouchPad, it remains a question whether the TouchPad will stick with the webOS platform, or whether it will run the upcoming Windows 8, which is already undergoing TouchPad testing.