The Verge has learned that a portion of HP’s webOS team are moving over to Google. The hirings involve a number of people who developed Enyo, the webOS HTML-5-based application framework. Among these is Matt McNulty who has been leading the project.
What the Enyo team members will work on for Google is not clear but there are a number of options. They could work on Android (rejoining Matias Duarte who led the webOS UI development at Palm) or join the Chrome team where web apps feature prominently.
For its part, HP confirmed that the project to open source webOS is on track: “The Open webOS project is on schedule and we remain committed to the roadmap announced in January.”
Update: A blog post by the Enyo team suggests that the number of team members who have left is far less than reported.
It’s true that some key members of the Enyo team have left the company, but the majority of the engineering and leadership team remains. We want to reassure you that we’re thrilled with the traction Enyo has gained to date and are redoubling our efforts to continue development, working closely with the community.
It added that the team is not only hiring to replace those who have left but also to grow the team.
Read more: The Verge