HP isn't abandoning WebOS, they're focusing on it. They plan on pushing the platform forward and are no longer going to have a hand in hardware design. Common sense would lead one to believe that they're going to start licensing.
Interview about it:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/19/the- ... the-state/Aethien wrote:
It's tempting ... If I buy one, how limited will it be? It'll still work on my home wireless, right? Might be nice for recipes in the kitchen or something.
I doubt you'll be able to find one anymore, but they aren't losing any functionality. They're not limited by anything other than the fact that they probably wont get another official WebOS update. This is a solid, 10" 1.2ghz cpu, 1gb ram, 16gb memory tablet. The only reason it didn't get reviewed favorably against things like the iPad was because of the price ($399/499), but < $100 is an absolute steal.
Also, WebOS is built on linux. This gives me a very big expectation that Android will be available for this tablet at some point thanks to the community. Especially now since a lot of people (hackers included, I'm sure) probably own one when they never expected to. Where else could you get a 10" android tablet with great touch response for that price? Nowhere.