What they’re making available should allow independent developers to further play and develop software for legacy webOS devices, such as the Pre 3 and TouchPad. It’s a seperate release from the main, open webOS project, however. All the necessary components will be available by June.

CTO of webOS, Sam Greenblatt, said on the webOS developer blog that the team “value[s] the contributions the webOS community has made over the past few years”, and that he hopes the release will help developers “better understand the platform and create a constructive environment for moving forward as Open webOS itself is released.”

There are no exact details on what’s being released yet, or an official timeline, but it seems like this is a little “thank you” to the community for supporting webOS when the market wouldn’t. At the end of the blog post, Greenblatt lays out the March committments to the open webOS project, saying that the latest version of the Linux kernel, 3.3, will be ready for release towards the end of the month. It brings improvements in several areas, including drivers, networking, and memory.

[via liliputing]

The Pre 3 was to be one of two webOS smartphones from HP, the other being the pint-sized Veer. It sports a form factor similar to its Palm Pre and Pre 2 predecessors with a vertical slide-out QWERTY keyboard that’s also the largest of the Pre series. It has a 3.6-inch 480×800 display, a 5-megapixel camera, front-facing VGA camera, and a 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor.

In Europe it’s currently retailing for 349 euros ($505) in France and 299 pounds ($490) in the UK. But much like the fire sale for the HP TouchPad, the Pre 3 is set to get a tremendous discount. The unlocked version will go on sale for $75 unlocked, although exactly when the sale will kick off has not yet been confirmed.

And although the phone will not launch in the US, the unlocked version from Europe can still work on AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks but will face 3G limitations due to lack of support for the appropriate network bands.

[via PCMag]

During the meeting, webOS Global Business Unit VP Stephen DeWitt reaffirmed several times that HP intends to continue work on the webOS platform, saying “We are not walking away from webOS.” DeWitt continued to detail how the next two weeks will look like for the platform, but also admitted that “Clearly, we don’t have all the answers today.”

DeWitt also revealed that the webOS unit would see staff reductions, telling the team that the company needs people “that are serious about winning.” Failure of the webOS ecosystem was pegged on the lackluster hardware, with the belief that HP needed to stop forcing non-competitive products into the market.

Hence, it looks like HP will be taking the route of licensing webOS to manufacturers. But when asked about HTC or Samsung being potential licensees, HP VP Todd Bradley pointed out that the webOS platform was only designed to work with Qualcomm chips. Therefore, to satisfy many potential licensees, webOS will have to support other chipsets as well. Perhaps, this is the work that HP will have to continue with on webOS?

HP today also confirmed the purchase of enterprise software company Autonomy for $10 billion, as part of its transition to focus on software, connectivity, and cloud computing.

[via Thisismynext]

Before we continue, you should know if you do not know already that *PSG, or HP Personal Systems Group, is a division of Hewlett Packard at the moment, responsible for everything from personal computers to handheld computers (mobile devices) to software and accessories. Should HP part ways with their PSG sect, they’d be looking at a very different way of going about their business, having left a group that deals in Enterprise Storage, Servers, and Networking, Software, Imaging and Printing, Financial Services, and Corporate Investments. Look for a company that’s in the public eye a whole heck of a lot less than it is now.

HP’s personal computing business is currently the world’s largest, in the USA alone shipping at 4,533 units in the second quarter of 2011 while its closest competitor, Dell, trailed behind at 3,822 and Apple then being the third place business had a comparatively tiny quarter at 1,814 units – all of this information coming a Gartner report on Q2 in the states only. In the rest of the world, also according to Gartner, HP’s dominance is just as strong at 18.9% of the total market with Dell next in line at 12.8% and Acer at 11.2%. On the other hand, Apple is the biggest tech company in the world when you consider the worth of the company as a whole.

Another factor to consider here is that HP just TODAY revealed a new version of their HP TouchPad in a white-backed 64GB edition destined for Europe. Right along this same track is the story from just YESTERDAY in which webOS chief Stephen DeWitt told the Wall Street Journal that HP is exploring the possibility of putting the software into home appliances and cars, claiming enormous interest from manufacturers to get started on projects. The FCC has had some webOS action of late as well: TouchPad Go 7-inch webOS tablet was spotted on the block just this past week.

Was there a bit of miscommunication going on here in one place or another?

Did HP not plan to drop webOS until very recently?

The HP TouchPad has very recently been discounted desperately. This combined with mixed reviews and Best Buy turning their backs on the tablet make for a not very friendly environment for either the tablet or the operating system on it to survive. Without its hero tablet on which HP placed so much of its faith in webOS, the operating system must fail.

As HP’s CEO Leo Apotheker said today on the Q3 sales call, the TouchPad just “has not gained enough traction in the market” to be able to be successful enough for HP to keep, therefor 12 to 18 months is the amount of time HP says it will take to decide what to do with their PSG unit aside from webOS products. “We have made a difficult decision” to phase out webOS from HP by Q4 2011 says Apotheker, this being in the best interest of the consumer, the company, and the shareholders.

Apotheker focused the call mainly on the enterprise dealings of HP and their acquisitions to strengthen that piece of their ecosystem. First, Apotheker noted that John Visentin previously of IBM is now with HP, appointed as the new executive vice president in charge of enterprise services. Next, HP will acquire all outstanding shares of Autonomy Enterprise Software company to effectively acquiring them. HP made no attempt to hide the fact that they were all disappointed by their less-than expected earnings this quarter, but did make an attempt at focusing on how they could work with the situation rather than continuing down a negative road.

An operating loss of $332 million USD in Q3 of 2011 for webOS was just one of these negative stats HP certainly took no joy in announcing. They did continue to note that they’d be seeking “strategic alternatives” for the webOS mobile operating system in the future, not committing to any plan specifically. Cloud services were mentioned several times, as were enterprise storage, service, and networking services, each of them looking positive for the future, so says HP. Software as well as Financial Services are growing by double digit percentages, and HP made sure to let this be known.

As far as webOS as a software goes, HP notes that it’s been very well received and that they’ll be looking at all options including working with other manufacturers as well as licensing the software out “as well as other options.” Apotheker was very careful to say that no plans are concrete nor would he or anyone else be discussing the future of webOS OR the hardware surrounding it until they were able to make further decisions with the board. This comes aside the comments from webOS GBU VP Stephen DeWitt from earlier today, DeWitt saying that HP would not be leaving webOS as a software in the dust:

“We are not walking away from webOS.” – DeWitt

DeWitt also noted that they hoped they’d have further answers within the next two weeks, admitting that “Clearly, we don’t have all the answers today.” HP VP Todd Bradley noted in particular that webOS, though only able to work with Qualcomm at the moment, would be open for work with other SoC manufacturers in the future. Bradley and DeWitt spoke on how it’s been the hardware that’s been holding webOS back and that HP needed simply to stop “trying to force non-competitive products into the market,” as it were.

The webOS device business will be shut down, this much is clear for HP. Licensing the software is now the obvious answer for HP while webOS remains an HP-owned product. As far as PSG, Apotheker assured us near the end of the question and answer portion of their Q3 sales call that they would continue to work with the PSG sector like they have been in a sense, but like webOS, no final answer on what they’d be moving forward to do exactly with the sector was given.

We’ll continue to explore this major set of moves by HP as they develop, and certainly we hope to get some more answers by the time the next two weeks are up!

That price gets you an unlocked SIM free smartphone. The smartphone has 8GB of internal storage. The device is listed on the page as being available and ready to shop within two days. There are also reports that the Pre3 is shipping in the UK via Box.co.uk for £349.98 and that Clove has the smartphone listed for £360.

An official statement from HP has confirmed the device to be available and shipping. The statement hints that the smartphone will land in the US soon as well. How quickly soon will come is up to the imagination. I would think with a support page on Orange and other retailers confirming the Pre3 is shipping Orange will be fessing up soon too.

[via PreCentral]

Beyond just the release date, the tipster also revealed that the Pre 3 will ship with WebOS 2.2 along with full Skype integration that will work with Synergy contacts and messaging applications. The Skype integration will enable video chat with the front-facing camera and will also allow you to make and receive calls using your Skype contacts.

No official announcements for the Pre 3 have been made yet, but HP has previously stated a summer release timeframe for the handset. The Pre 3 features a 3.6-inch WVGA (800×400) display along with slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It was the more anticipated WebOS smartphone from HP, when they announced it along with the HP Veer and the HP Touchpad tablet some months ago.

[via MobileBurn]

No accompanying specifications, however, which means all we have to go on is rumor. The device certainly looks thin enough to be keyboard-free, with a display that’s estimated to run at 800 x 480; up near the earpiece is what could be either a proximity sensor or a front-facing camera.

Secondly, there’s a shot of the already announced Pre3 running on Verizon’s network. While we’ve known all along that the Pre3 would have both CDMA and GSM radios, this is the first time we’ve seen it hooked up via CDMA, and the first time a carrier has been connected with the device. Whether that means it’ll arrive on Verizon shelves in time, and whether or not it will be an exclusive or also available on Sprint, remains to be seen; there’s still some time before it’s due to arrive this summer.

The touch that happens in this video is very short and seemingly insignificant to the plot. However, when you do see the Touch to Share function working so very smoothly, you might expect that it’s some sort of science fiction technology, that it’s so radical, especially because of the rest of the oddities in the video, that it couldn’t possibly exist in the real world. Why Dr Dre is hanging from chains, why candelabras of LEDs, and why this man would be in a hospital that looks more like Dracula’s home is beyond us, but besides that, lots of things in this video come from pop culture sources, and in many cases, real life technologies.

The videos that appear to be lower quality throughout this short film are from Dre’s earlier days in rap as well as his personal life with his close family. The idea here is that Dre’s had a hard life, and an amazingly full life, but he’s had his fair share of tribulation as well. Essentially the whole video adds up to the fact that though he’s had it hard, with the help of a Bacta Tank, a dancing oracle ala 300, and HP / webOS technology, he’ll be ok. Then outside the video, once people realize that this HP technology is real, they’ll just HAVE to buy into it.

If you’d like to know more about webOS, just head over to our giant [webOS Portal]. Recent events surrounding the products shown in this video took place several weeks ago, those events including a big HP/webOS event where we grabbed a hands on with the HP Pre3, the HP Touchpad, and again, Touch to Share technology.

“It’s not that we aren’t innovative” Apotheker insists, “it’s that it takes too long to get to market.” The complaint has been a common one around the biggest players in the computing and mobile industry; Nokia executives have also previously suggested that reducing the time between announcement and launch will help them build momentum in a similar manner to Apple.

The HP TouchPad, however, along with the Pre3 and Veer, aren’t expected for several months, with rumors pegging the webOS slate as arriving in June. That puts it beyond the expected launch of the second-gen iPad, which is likely to capture huge amounts of consumer and industry attention.

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To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

Unlike the 3.1-inch display of its predecessors, the Pre3 packs a 3.6-inch panel running at WVGA (800×480). That makes for more on-screen at any one time, and for a generally more satisfying browsing and emailing experience. The larger casing also means there’s room for a bigger physical keyboard. While we generally liked Palm’s ‘boards, the portrait orientation sliders could feel cramped even for those with regular-sized fingers. The difference is only slight, but it’s enough that we noticed an uptick in our typing speed from the off.

Speed is seemingly the watchword for the HP Pre3, since out of the gate it’s promising one of the fastest processors we’ve seen on a smartphone. The 1.4GHz Qualcomm processor leaves webOS running smoother than we’ve ever seen it before, and even Flash Player 10.1 whips along nicely. Palm was slowly gathering momentum among games developers, and hopefully HP will continue to leverage that support and help the Pre3 find its niche with power-users who also like gaming.

More on the HP Pre3 in our hands-on video (coming soon) and live gallery!

There are a couple of prerequisites for this magic to happen. First, Palm and HP note: “Requires HP TouchPad with webOS 3.0 and Pre3 or Veer with webOS 2.2 or higher, both products having the same HP webOS account. Viewing URL web page content requires data connection via Wi-Fi or cellular connection.” Then they add “Within wireless coverage area only. Actual speeds may vary. Email, mobile number, and related information required for setup and activation. Required data services sold separately; unlimited plan recommended and may be required. Not all web content may be available.” Both of these rules seem to be in place mostly as a precautionary measure against foolish users who would desire perfect products, but they’re helpful anyway.

How would you use this feature? One of the examples HP gives is sharing a URL with a friend, simply tapping the devices together rather than taking that extra few seconds or minutes to re-type the address in to an instant messanger or email. Another example is if you’ve found an article or an entire blog you’d like to have on one device when you’ve discovered it on the other – just tap. Connectedness!

The Pre3 gets two cameras, 5-megapixels on the back capable of shooting HD video, and a front-facing camera for video calls. Connectivity includes 3G, WiFi and HP mobile hotspot support, together with GPS and Flash Player 10.1 support. HP will be preloading the QuickOffice Connect Mobile Suite for the business audience, and of course there’s the webOS app store for third-party titles. It’s also a world phone, with both HSPA+ and EVDO Rev.A connectivity.

No word on pricing or which carriers we can expect to see the HP Pre3 launch on, or indeed whether HP will be pushing it unlocked as has been the case in some regions with the Pre 2. The HP Pre3 will go on sale in summer 2011.

Announcing products is only half the battle, of course; we also need to see exactly when HP can ship them. With the iPad 2 on the near horizon, that may not give the TouchPad much room to make its mark.

We’ll have full hands-on coverage of all the new products, complete with video, after the HP event is over, so keep reading SlashGear and don’t forget to let us know what you think of the new devices!

There’s also the TouchPad and the HP Pre3, which is presumably a replacement to the existing Pre 2.

Palm devices became known for their relatively compact displays in comparison to handsets running rival platforms; the Pre had a 3.1-inch panel, for instance. Scoble suggests that the device is being targeted at those who want a capable smartphone OS but a compact, featurephone-style casing. SlashGear is at the HP event this morning, and we’ll be bringing you all the news as it happens.