The decision by Hewlett-Packard to terminate its tablet and smartphone business and sell the software that supported it, has resulted in a great deal of industry debate.
However at least one research firm believes HP should sell webOS to Facebook. That’s right – the world’s leading social network with over 750 million users.
Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek suggested that after surveying the mobile landscape, Facebook is the best fit to buy webOS given its future ambitions to extend its brand across media and content.
“Due to Facebook’s scale, developer community, and movement toward media (e.g., music) and communications (Messenger), it is possible that an acquisition of an OS asset like this could be a good option,” Misek wrote in a research note 15 September.
Misek, who is not the first to suggest this move, said webOS would be attractive to the social network for several reasons:
“An acquisition of WebOS could allow another player to take advantage of any stumbles,” Misek wrote, adding that inquiries revealed developers would support a potential Facebook OS.
There are some problems with Misek’s theory. While Facebook is certainly interested in bulking up its media, communications and ad assets, history shows the company has stopped short of buying access to such content.
Save for some piece acquisitions, Facebook prefers to build its software in-house. The company has stopped short of building out its own OS to date and has never shown an interest in acquiring such an expansive piece part and putting it in front of consumers.
Then again, a bow-tied, proven OS, such as webOS, offers the company some interesting possibilities. With webOS, Facebook could partner with HTC and others to build real Facebook phones and even tablets.
Why not? The company certainly has the consumer cachet and brand HP lacks, and could prove a formidable challenge to Apple’s iPhone and iPad, and Android handsets and tablets.
If Facebook does make a play for webOS and gets it, Misek said this scenario would be most problematic for Research in Motion and Microsoft Windows 8 because it would mean there would be another strong player competing for the third mobile OS horse behind Apple iOS and Google’s Android.
Misek expects Facebook’s purchase of webOS would have minimal impact on Apple and Google.
“Over time, Android share gains could decelerate (currently 48 percent) due to a new ecosystem that exhibits less vertical integration aspiration, but we believe Android will remain the share leader due to OEM/developer stickiness and Google’s continued innovation,” Misek said.
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