HP going open source with WebOS

This isn’t technically an Android story, but we know there’s lots of Palm Pre and HP Touchpad users out there in the reading audience. After months of indecision over the future of WebOS, HP has decided to release open source code for the operating system, allowing anyone from hobbyists to manufacturers to create versions of WebOS for different devices. There won’t be any more hardware from HP featuring WebOS, at least not in the immediate future.

WebOS started as a new operating system, built from the ground up by Palm to compete with the iPhone. When the first two generations of the Palm Pre failed to impress and its former PalmOS and Windows Mobile Treo phones kept losing ground in the market, PC manufacturer HP bought the company in April 2010 and moved its employees to their largely stagnant mobile division. The company released a low-end WebOS phone, the Veer, and the HP Touchpad tablet. Neither managed to gain a foothold in the market, and HP decided to discontinue production on both devices, and completely shelved its plan for the Pre 3. The announcement came less than two months after the Touchpad was released.
That’s where things started to get interesting. Once HP had decided to kill the Touchpad, they liquidated remaining stock in a firesale, pricing the $500 16GB version at just $100. They sold hundreds of thousands of tablets overnight. Immediately Android developers set to work on a version of Android Gingerbread for the 10-inch tablet, spurred on by renewed interest and a few small monetary prizes raised for the purpose. The CyanogenMod team was the one to finally release a stable, reliable version of Android for the Touchpad, which is still being updated. A version of the recently open-sourced Android Ice Cream Sandwich is already in the works.
So what does this mean for Android users? Soon you may have yet another choice for your device’s operating system, if there’s a developer willing to modify WebOS’ open source code to run on your hardware. If you’re skilled in that area you’ll be able to try yourself. You can expect versions of WebOS for the most popular devices, like the Galaxy S II and the various Nexus phones, and at least a few tablet versions should be available as well. Whether or not it’s something you’d want to use depends on your personal taste and the skill of the developers. I hope that some of WebOS’ more unique features, like the card multitasking system and edge gestures. HP said that it will continue to add to the project.
On a personal note, I’d like to say goodbye to Palm, Inc. Now that HP is basically throwing the last Palm project to the wind, it’s truly the end of an era for a company that helped define mobile computing for decades. So long, Palm – it was great while it lasted.

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Android’s US Market Share Nearing 50 percent in Latest Nielsen Report

Android continues to lead US smartphone market share, and the gap is growing according to the latest figures from Nielsen. For the third quarter of 2011 Android’s share reached 43 percent, up from 39 percent, compared to Apple’s 28 percent, which saw no change. Android saw its gains at the expense of RIM and Microsoft, whose dropping share combined for 25 percent of the smartphone market. Symbian and webOS featured such a small showing that Nielsen dumped them into the “other” category with 4 perent total share.
Nielsen reports 43 percent of all mobile phone users own a smartphone, with Apple ranking as the top vendor despite conflicting reports from other analytics firms.
[via Nielsen]

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Is HP just making up excuses now to keep webOS in the dark?

HP’s gone a little bit up and down over the last few months. Actually, many would say that there has been a lot more downthan up, and I would tend to agree. I am a fan of any company out there that stands behind their products to the end, and shows that they are pushing ahead despite the hardships. I’ll support those companies along with them, even if I know there’s an obvious dead end ahead. It’s one of the reasons I bought a TouchPad in that crazy fire sale that was happening. Even when I was seeing HP’s dismissal of the hardware front, I was holding out hope for the software. And now that HP is supposed to make a decision on webOS itself, I find myself holding my breath here and there, waiting to hear something.


While we’ve been reporting that things could change for the worse for webOS as of late, it would seem that HP is set on keeping things the way they are. What that means is anyone’s guess at this point, at least deeper than face value. For the rest of the world, we see a mobile operating system that is literally in a state of limbo. We see that HP’s webOS is still there, still being talked about, and still wanted by plenty of people out there. But, we also see HP not really making a move on anything. We see HP literally balking at the idea that webOS is still around or could be left adrift. The truth is it seems to me that HP has no idea what to do and they are trying to bide as much time as they can before someone, anyone forces them to make one.


That has never been so clear to me until just recently, when webOS GPU VP Stephen DeWitt offered his two cents on the life of webOS. Of course, this is coming from an “insider,” so this isn’t entirely set in stone quite yet. But, we’ll take it for what it’s worth for now. And that’s why I’m thinking HP is seriously trying to just come up with any excuse they can to make sure that they keep webOS under their wing, in this constant state of flux and mystery. What I’m talking about is DeWitt mentioning that webOS is designed to work on Qualcomm chips, and that potential companies would “likely want webOS to work with other kinds of chipsets.”


Really? This just seems like we are trying too hard to make sure that no one else gets their hands on webOS. Yes, webOS is designed to work on Qualcomm chips, but last time I checked there were still manufacturers out there using Qualcomm chips in smartphones. So . . . That can’t honestly be a huge issue, right? I understand that those companies using Qualcomm chipsets in their phones might not want to get their hands on webOS, but at the same time, I would be shocked to hear that not one of those companies would like to use webOS. For a nominal licensing fee there’s obviously still money to be made from webOS – why not bank on that? And then, on the flip-side, why not get one of those hundreds of intelligent people out there who have been working on webOS since day one to get the mobile OS to work on something other than a Qualcomm chipset? That’s possible, right? If it isn’t then that’s a realistic dilemma that could really be holding things up. If it is possible, then let’s get this moving, shall we?


I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that HP is making these kinds of moves, blaming these kinds of situations on the hold up because they can’t find anyone to license webOS in its current state. No, not because the likes of Samsung and HTC don’t want to manufacture phones with webOS, but because they don’t want to deal with HP. To me, that makes the most sense. Considering how “wishy-washy” HP seems to be with one of the most fan-crazed mobile operating systems out there, I wouldn’t want to work directly with them right now, either. Someone in HP’s upper management seriously just needs to make a decision on webOS, even if that means they officially declare webOS dead, or that they’ve passed the reigns over to someone else. Just make a decision. We’re all waiting to hear it, seriously.


But, if we’re left to deal with these ridiculous reasons, and continue to get stonewalled, then you’ll only have one choice, and it will be completely on you: kill it.

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HP decides on Palm and webOS future this week

I’m not quite sure what the game plan HP had in mind when they purchased Palm some time ago, but it seems as though that is one plan that had fallen apart at the seams. The HP TouchPad did receive some buzz when it was introduced, but then again the tablet’s sales were stopped barely a month into its release. Signs point towards HP deciding on the future of Palm and its operating system, webOS, later this week after rumors of the company completing the initial bidding process for its webOS unit. An all-hands meeting is touted to be held tomorrow in order to reveal the future plans on whether HP will be selling or spinning off the group.
That would basically mean $1.2 billion or so down the drain after acquiring Palm, so it remains to be seen who else is going to pick up Palm and webOS. Perhaps the next Silicon Valley visionary is able to see what webOS can be in its entirety, or would Palm just be killed off, ending its relatively short life as a company?

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ACME Installer demo shows off Android/WebOS dual-boot on HP TouchPad

There are geeks working hard out there to get Android onto the HP TouchPad that failed so brilliantly. The future of WebOS might be murky and the future of updates is something that many that own the TouchPad may be worrying about. With a port that allows Android to run on the TouchPad the little HP tablet would get a second life and more usability for the average geek. A video has landed on YouTube that shows a demo of ACME Installer with dual boot for the TouchPad.

The demo shows a geek with the ACME Installer mounting the TouchPad to a Mac and then moving some needed files over to the tablet. Once the files are over on the TouchPad, the files can be executed. To do this they create a folder called cminstall, copy a zip file over, and use the novacom program to start the ACME installer.
It doesn’t take that long to get Cyanogen 7 running on the tablet and you can swap back to WebOS whenever you want. The addition of the new OS needs only three files including the ACME installer, novacom, and cm-update payload file. The video points out that the demo doesn’t mean the ACME installer is close to release though. The Cyanogenmod was benchmarked not long ago.
Thanks for the tip Tony.




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Now Amazon's in the frame to buy webOS

It's now pretty clear that the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet we saw launched through the week is just a placeholder for Amazon's grander slate ambitions, and we're expecting bigger and better from the online retail colossus in the months to come.
But now VentureBeat has given things a new twist by suggesting part of those ambitions may involve snapping up webOS and reworking it for its own needs.

In case you've forgotten, webOS is that much-loved mobile OS running on board the HP Pre3 and TouchPad – loved so much in fact that no-one seems willing to be able to make it work.
Palm developed it, then just about went bust. HP was next to step in, buying out Palm and webOS and promising to change the world. But a couple of months ago it decided to call it quits having not made nearly the impact it had been hoping for. HP hasn't actually confirmed it wants to sell webOS, but enough rumours have been swirling about to assume it's all but a certainty.
A few names have been mentioned in connection with throwing the platform a lifeline, including Samsung, HTC and even Facebook. Now we have Amazon too, it seems.
“A well-placed source tells us that HP is currently looking to rid itself of Palm as soon as possible, and that Amazon is the closest to finalizing the deal, among a handful of contenders,” VentureBeat says.
We should also add that in response HP dished up the usual “we don't comment on rumours” soundbite, while Amazon hasn't responded at all yet.
So we're still in pure rumour territory here, but we'll keep an eye out for new developments.

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