Samsung eyes WebOS, recruits ex-HP VP for PC sales

Samsung may be taking advantage of HP’s recent missteps. The company is reportedly thinking of purchasing HP’s webOS software, and it has also recruited HP’s ex-VP of PC marketing Raymond Wah, reports the Taiwanese news site Digitimes.

Of all of the potential webOS buyers out there, Samsung is one of the most interesting. The company has already gained some ground in low-end phones with its Bada software, and it has been nimble enough to succeed with its Android Galaxy S II phones while also dabbling in Windows Phone 7 devices.

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Palm’s webOS patent portfolio may also help to protect Samsung from further legal bullying from the likes of Apple. The iPhone-maker just recently scored yet another patent win in Europe against Samsung, which could force it to stop offering its Galaxy Android phones.

We’ve asked both HP and Samsung for comment on the news and will update if we hear anything back. I don’t expect either company to acknowledge a webOS deal at this point though.

HP previously told its employees that it’s “not walking away from webOS” the day after the company killed its webOS devices. The company has discussed licensing the software to others, but at this point that seems like a tough sell when even HP couldn’t make webOS devices succeed.

Samsung was also rumored to be interesting in HP’s PC business, but sources tell Digitimes that Samsung may pass since it’s a relatively low-margin business. The addition of Wah could help Samsung to better market its own computers, which have become increasingly impressive over the past few years.