Samsung Electronics, despite refuting reports it plans to take over Hewlett-Packard's (HP's) PC business, reportedly has already recruited HP's ex-vice president of PSG marketing Raymond Wah to handle Samsung's PC sales, and the company is also reportedly considering purchasing webOS to compete head on against Apple and Google, according to sources from notebook players.
Both HP and Samsung have declined to comment about the purchase of webOS.
The sources noted that the acquisition of HP's PC business, which has a rather low gross margin, may turn out to hurt Samsung's panel and DRAM businesses that have rather high gross margins, therefor HP's webOS may be the target that Samsung has the most interest in.
In addition, Google's acquisition of Motorola, which may seriously threaten hardware brand vendors, could also trigger Samsung to purchase webOS as a counter measure, the sources added.
