> Why not just spin that out with the hardware business to Compaq (which is the idea, yes?)? It seems they've devalued that unit by killing WebOS.
I'd imagine one of the biggest reasons is patents. If they spin out the business they have to sell the patents. If they're going into a new market where they don't traditionally have alot of expertise their only chance of not getting sued into oblivion is to be able to cross license patents.
Spinning off the Palm patent portfolio significantly hurts them in this regard.
With the price of patents being what it is these days, it might have been worth more to them to keep the patents and bury the project.
I am with you on the patent reason, but I think they are going to sell them. They probably figure they are worth more than a WebOS-based device would be to the PC division.
In the current legal environment, my guess is that a technology with patent licenses is nearly worthless compared to a technology with patents. Note that if someone wants to license webOS, naturally they license the patents. But who would want to buy the business but not the IP? That’s like licensing the operating system, being responsible for maintaining it, and paying a massive fee for the license up front. Such a business would be hard to run and hard to sell since you aren’t buying the IP and therefore can’t resell it.
I'd imagine one of the biggest reasons is patents. If they spin out the business they have to sell the patents. If they're going into a new market where they don't traditionally have alot of expertise their only chance of not getting sued into oblivion is to be able to cross license patents.
Spinning off the Palm patent portfolio significantly hurts them in this regard.
With the price of patents being what it is these days, it might have been worth more to them to keep the patents and bury the project.