According to this post by SlashGear, webOS is not dead yet and there is interest from several companies, including Nikon, to buy the mobile operating system from HP:
It also continues the confusion as to what HP plans to do with webOS, which it had initially insisted that it would continue to support and develop. But the company is looking more likely to sell the unit and has been in talks with HTC, LG, Nikon, and Amazon as potential buyers of the software platform.
More on webOS from Wikipedia:
HP webOS is a mobile operating system based on a Linux kernel, initially developed by Palm, which was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard.Palm, HP, and most commentators and sources write the name webOS, as shown in the adjacent logo, and in HP resources, rather than “WebOS”.
webOS was introduced by Palm in January 2009. Various versions of webOS have been featured on several devices, including Pre, Pixi, and Veer phones and the HP Touchpad tablet. However, on August 18, 2011, HP announced that it would discontinue production of all webOS related hardware devices. HP is presently considering licensing webOS software to other manufacturers for placement on their hardware devices.
