This time was always going to come, but in a little over one month HP is finally shutting down the cloud services which support its WebOS devices like the Palm Pre and HP Touchpad. This is terrible news, and marks a sure end to the usefulness of those devices for most users.
I wrote a while back that the Palm Pre 3 was pretty much my favourite smartphone. Of course, I love Android and
If you haven't read my full tribute to the Pre, and WebOS allow me to summarize: this was a platform that was way ahead of its time then, and honestly remains attractive even now. I can use all of my email accounts with my Pre. I can connect it to Facebook, use Skype for calls and messages and enjoy one of the best user experiences of any phone yet. I don't use it as my main phone, but I do often carry it with me as a 3G hotspot, and backup phone.
The third-party community for the Palm Pre, Pixi and Touchpad devices remains strong for now, WebOS Nation has great support for people using the devices, but the honest truth is that with HP disabling its cloud support for the device, things are going to get complicated. Once the final date passes, on the 15th of January 2015, you won't be able to set up a new account, nor will you be able to backup old data and contacts. There will be no further system updates - there haven't been for a while now anyway - but nor will you be able to download purchased apps or restore deleted apps.
It's not explicitly mentioned in the information sent to developers, but those who have used WebOS devices will know that after a reset you need to input your username and password for your Palm account. WIth this service deactivated, you actually won't be able to get into a WebOS device at all, although there is a bypass to get in, simply use the dialer to input #*DEVMODE#. At the very least, I think HP should patch this before shutdown so that active users don't have problems if they reset their device.
Users also won't be able to download any apps from the App Catalog either, so both free and purchased programs will need to be on your phone or tablet before the service closes. If you have to wipe for any reason, you'll lose them. WebOS Nation has its own app archive, but for copyright reasons it can't host apps unless given permission to do so. Any WebOS developers of old, if you're feeling charitable, you can let them add them into their collection for existing owners.
This is all, as you might expect, very serious for anyone still using their device. HP says that use of WebOS phones and tablets have dwindled to almost nothing. I get this, and I'm sure that there are costs to running the service. That said, I find it hard to believe that a company of HPs size can't maintain the few necessary services needed to keep WebOS users' devices going. There was talk, some time ago, about LG - which bought the WebOS division from HP and has been using it as a platform for its smart TVs - perhaps launching a WebOS phone of its own. It's unlikely this would help Pre and Touchpad owners though, as HP owns the database, and selling it would likely get it in hot water over privacy.
However you look at it, either from a business perspective, or a technological one, it's sad to see a platform die. WebOS, and the Palm Pre were both great products, and seeing them come to something of an end will always be sad. One thing is for sure though, I'll be making the most of my Pre 3 until the bitter end. It has become something of a conversation piece these days, and with good reason.
