Earlier this month, we learned that LG may be working on a new webOS SmartWatch, which would be the first new mobile webOS product in quite some time. Unfortunately, now we have a bit of bad webOS news to balance out the good.
HP has announced on its Developer Center that the HP App Catalog and webOS device cloud services support will officially end on January 15, 2015. According to HP’s FAQ on the matter, this means that users will no longer be able to download new apps or updates, backup or restore devices from the cloud, setup new devices, receive system updates or recover lost passwords.
As for why it’s decided to shutdown its webOS cloud services, HP says that the decision “is part of an orderly end of life program.” The company notes that it ended support for webOS hardware three years ago, but that it continued to keep webOS services alive so that existing customers could use their devices. However, now HP says that “the user count has dwindled to the point where it is no longer viable to keep the services running.”
HP also notes that its decision to shutdown webOS services does not disable devices that are currently running in the wild. Still, today’s news is still kind of a bummer, as it means that the webOS App Catalog that’s currently in use by devices like the TouchPad and Pre 3 will disappear in a few months’ time.
Have you ever used any webOS devices? If so, which ones?
