HP might have publicly ditched its tablet, rumoured to be in talks to sell webOS to Amazon, and basically doing all it can to hamper the mobile operating system, but that hasn’t stopped the company continuing on its path of putting the OS into its printer range.

A HP spokesperson has exclusively told Pocket-lint that the company is to incorporate the supposedly dead webOS into its printers. 

"HP is currently investigating using webOS on its Designjet range of professional printers," HP told Pocket-lint at the HP Impact event in Dublin.  

That leads us to believe that the mobile operating system is also coming to consumer grade Hewlett Packard printing products very soon.

Whilst the source was unsure as to whether HP would have anything ready to show this year, we were told that webOS would be appearing next year. 

It also means that the fires of webOS themselves are no longer dead, unfortunately no mention was made of other webOS-powered products.

Ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd said in May last year that we would be seeing webOS on internet connected printers.

"Beyond smart phones [you will see it go] into form factors such as slates and web-connected printers”. 

But with rumours of a sell-off, and the company having had two CEOs running the ship in a relatively short space of time, things look a little uncertain.

Update: 

HP has got in contact with Pocket-lint following this story being published and informed us of the approach they are now taking with WebOS:

"HP is 100% committed to producing print solutions that meet our customer needs and we will continue to drive innovation to ensure our products and solutions meet market demand. We built our printing franchise based on being OS agnostic – we have been and will continue to be agnostic to meet our various customer needs. As webOS plans develop we will continue to evaluate how and if we incorporate it into our future products."

It is the last bit that has us excited as it doesn't entirely write off WebOS as being put to bed. Nothing there from HP to confirm or suggest we will see WebOS make another appearance, but it is doesn't look like that is the end of it either. 

Excited about the return of WebOS? Let us know in the comments below ...