Bloomberg reports that Leo Apotheker, CEO of HP, had stated that the company is “talking to a number of companies” about licensing its WebOS mobile device operating system, and that the computer giant and potential partners are “continuing our conversations.” According to the report, one of the potential partners for the OS is Samsung, although the companies have declined to confirm this speculation. It was suggested that the South Korean electronics giant is exploring the platform because Google is looking to limit the amount of customisation vendors do to the Android operating system, in order to reduce fragmentation. Samsung has traditionally worked with multiple smartphone operating systems – in addition to its current Android, bada and Windows Phone devices, it has previously dabbled to various degrees with Palm OS, Symbian OS, Linux and Windows Mobile.

HP gained the WebOS platform through its acquisition of smart device pioneer Palm, although to date the OS has seen limited success in the market. Earlier this year, Jon Rubenstein, head of the HP unit which manages WebOS, said that it would look to work with “one or two special companies,” but that these partners must bring additional value to the platform ecosystem. Licensing the platform to third parties will enable HP to increase its penetration, increasing the appeal for app developers, other vendors, and ultimately consumers. Earlier this year, HP unveiled a portfolio of devices using the platform, including smartphones and its TouchPad tablet (pictured), and the company has also said it will explore support for the OS in its printers and PCs, in order to create the largest possible user base for its partners.