Hot on the heels of the Amazon Kindle Fire announcement, there’s a report floating around that Amazon is seriously interested, and close to finalizing a deal to snatch up Palm and webOS from HP. VentureBeat originally reported this late last night, and since then, there have been several theories as to why Amazon may be interested in Palm and webOS.
Many have suggested that Amazon would prefer to buy their own mobile OS so that they aren’t at the mercy of Google and the Android development timeline. However, given that Amazon has forked an earlier version of Android, and customized it so much that one can’t even recognize Android in the UI, it seems like this wouldn’t be the main reason for moving to webOS. It’s possible, however, that Amazon is taking a page from Apple, wanting to control all aspects of the upcoming Kindle Fire successor(s), from the OS, to the hardware design and optimization, to the content being sold on the tablets. Amazon already has the content part covered.
Another post from Slashgear suggested that instead of webOS, Amazon is really interested in Palm for the hardware side. Though I’m not so sure about that. While Amazon did base the Kindle Fire on the BlackBerry Playbook hardware, a report we posted earlier from Ryan Block, said that Amazon already had a hardware design from their skunkworks Lab126 that they wanted to use for the first Kindle Fire, but due to various delays could not be used if they wanted to get the Kindle Fire out in time for this year’s holiday shopping season. So Amazon has the content and the hardware all figured out. Could webOS be the last piece they need for the Kindle tablets they really want to sell?
It seems that there’s no love lost between Amazon and Google. Amazon’s Appstore for Android is the only app market that is supported on the Kindle Fire out of the box. There is no trace of Google anywhere on the Kindle Fire. In addition, there’s a report out now that Amazon’s licensing agreement with Microsoft regarding Kindle patents does not cover the new Kindle Fire. Samsung has already agreed to pay Microsoft royalties for each Android device they sell. It’s possible that Amazon would have to shell out similar royalties when all is said and done. Buying their own OS to use on subsequent Kindle tablets would get them out from under such an agreement. However, it has been pointed out that the Kindle Fire enjoys a significant amount of Android apps from Amazon’s Appstore. Would Amazon be willing to let go of that advantage, or would they update webOS to be able to run Android apps (but in a much more useful way than RIM is doing with the PlayBook)?
I’m of two minds about this rumor. On the one hand, Amazon is great about seeing a project through, even if it starts out losing money, because they have a long-term plan to make the project profitable. The Kindle is a great example of this. So in this respect, Palm and webOS could finally get the money and time it needs to improve and innovate the way they’ve wanted all along.
However, I know that Amazon wants to do what’s best for Amazon. The Kindle Fire is a product to suck consumers into Amazon’s retail vortex — sign up for Amazon Prime, buy or rent all of their media content from Amazon, etc., etc. Amazon completely gutted Android to make a customized experience for the Kindle Fire. Would webOS be completely gutted as well, losing its identity on future Kindle tablets? It’s entirely possible. And as a webOS user, this concerns me. It’d be one thing if Amazon decided, “hey, we want to be in the OS business. Let’s buy webOS and license it to other hardware manufacturers and compete directly with Android, iOS, and everyone else.” Then it would be possible that webOS could flourish, especially with Amazon’s rep backing them up. Perhaps developers who remained on the fence, worried about HP’s wishy-washy support of webOS would fully get on board developing apps this time. Am I ever the naive optimist to say this? Perhaps. At any rate, if this comes to pass, and Amazon does buy Palm and webOS, we can at least say that Palm will be getting a third chance at life anew. Will it finally be the charm?
Via VentureBeat
