Remember how HP CEO Leo Apotheker said that his company would consider licensing webOS to other manufacturers? Turns out that he wasn't kidding. Apotheker today confirmed that HP is in talks with "a number of companies" to interested in licensing its mobile operating system, although the exec stopped short of mentioning exactly which firms were interested in getting a piece of the webOS pie. However, Samsung has reportedly discussed with HP the possibility of adopting webOS on its smartphones, according to "three people with knowledge of the discussions" speaking with Bloomberg. So when can we expect some HTC or Samsung-made webOS handsets? That's still up in the air. "There is no time pressure to do this," Apotheker said of the licensing talks.

There's no guarantee that we'll ever see HTC or Samsung produce webOS-powered hardware, but it'd certainly be interesting to see what both they and other manufacturers could create if they were given the opportunity. Until then, at least we've got the Pre 3 and TouchPad to whet our appetite for new webOS products. Anyone excited at the possibility of seeing manufacturers other than HP/Palm craft some webOS smartphones?

Via Bloomberg