Billed as a meeting that would finally decide the fate of webOS, HP CEO Meg Whitman has told employees she is still undecided about the platform's future.

Ever since the departure of former CEO Leo Apotheker – who previously decided to shelve the firm's tablet and smartphone business – commentators have talked up the prospect of HP selling off webOS, with scores of firms pitched as possible buyers.

Now, however, Whitman has claimed the company will continue to have a hand in the tablet market, manufacturing devices post TouchPad. The real question, she claims, is just what OS the firm will run with.

No phoney decision

"If HP decides [to hold on to webOS], we're going to do it in a very significant way over a multi-year period," Whitman said at the meeting.

"It's a very expensive proposition, but HP can make that bet."

Whitman said no final decision has yet been made, purely because she's still focusing on how to revive HP's PC business – another Apotheker decision Whitman has reversed – and the management of HP's acquisition of enterprise software company Autonomy.

However, while she admitted the lack of a decision on webOS is "unsatisfying" - Whitman currently focused on whether there's "another way to create that ecosystem” with a third-party platform – HP's CEO has ruled out having a hand in the smartphone market, with Whitman claiming "things get more complicated if you add in phones."

Recent chatter has suggested HP has been testing TouchPad on Windows 8, though no specific reference was made to Microsoft's OS in the meeting.

[source: The Verge]