“Isis Browser is a core application of HP’s webOS platform written using the Enyo framework. As of today, it is a work in progress aiming to incorporate the latest open source technologies, such as QtWebKit and JavaScriptCore, into the webOS platform. The source code of the Isis Browser stack, QtWebKit, and Qt 4.8 is available on GitHub where we will continue our development” Isis Project

Isis is based on the QtWebKit engine, itself released into open-source by Nokia, and the webOS teams have apparently been working some time to bring the platform over to it. The promise is boosted performance and broader compatibility with sites in general; however, there’ll also be “enhanced support” for legacy products, including Flash.

“We’ve benchmarked the new Isis webOS browser and have found it to be extremely responsive compared to other browsers made for general consumption. It has a fast render pipeline and JavaScript execution profile, which is critical to Enyo and other web technologies. It is extensively supportive of HTML5 and CSS3. Standards-compliance is important to developers because they can use technologies like Enyo to develop cross-platform web applications that already work well on webOS” Fred Patton, webOS team

As for the Open webOS Governance Model, that’s been based on the Apache way and laid out as follows:

• Open webOS will made available under the Apache license, Version 2.0.
• Open webOS will use the contributor committal model in use on most open source projects.
• Open webOS will be segmented into multiple projects to give developers ample opportunity to join and remain active in the development effort.
• The Open webOS project website will host a wiki, a source code repository, a mailing list, and a bug tracking system.
• We will use Github or an equivalent tool to as the code repository.
• We will use JIRA or an equivalent tool to track issues.
• Our plan is to allow multiple committers to branch and merge code in the open to allow multiple development branches to occur at once.

These latest releases keep pace with HP’s schedule of open-sourcing webOS, which has been broken down into a series of monthly milestones. Together with Enyo, released last month, today’s tools supposedly allow for ”an immersive user environment that can be built on any web platform”, something we think Mozilla might be pleased about. Iris is compatible with HP TouchPad devices running webOS 3.0.5, meanwhile.

Facebook has plenty of mobile users – in fact in December 2011 over half of active members accessed the site via a mobile device – but it has very little control over that experience. So far, the social network hasn’t even monetized them: mobile visitors don’t see adverts, and in fact Facebook has cautioned potential investors that, if the current situation continues, it could actually see a reduction in revenue despite rising membership. However, it’s being subject to the whims of Apple and Google that really cause sleepless nights.

“We are dependent on the interoperability of Facebook with popular mobile operating systems that we do not control, such as Android and iOS,” Facebook wrote in its IPO filing. “Any changes in such systems that degrade our products’ functionality or give preferential treatment to competitive products could adversely affect Facebook usage on mobile devices.”

The answer, of course, is to build a platform of Facebook’s own: the until-now mythical Facebook Phone. Back in mid-2011, when HP was still floundering with webOS and receiving plenty of uninvited suggestions as to what it should do with the mobile platform, several people painted Facebook as a potential suitor. Then, the idea was that Facebook should buy webOS wholesale from HP, with the computer company likely to cut a good deal if it could get the platform off its hands.

Now, though, there’s no need for Facebook to open its wallet – at least not initially. HP is giving webOS away, having released it under an open-source license. It also addresses an early criticism of the first bout of Facebook-buying-webOS speculation: that it would leave the social network responsible for not only maintaining its own mobile software and services, but a variety of apps out of its usual beat. Browser, email client, calendar app: they’d all have to be dealt with.

Under HP’s open-source plans, though, it will take responsibility for keeping webOS up to date. In fact, the company has said we can expect a significant release every month for the next six or seven, and there’ll be further attention beyond that too. Facebook already has arguably the best dedicated mobile app for its site on the TouchPad, too, a useful shortcut when its app strategy has, until now, been lackluster.

There’d be room in such a scheme for HP to profit, too. Back when the company announced it would be open-sourcing webOS, it also said it would wait to see what third-party adoption was like before deciding whether or not to build a new generation of devices on the platform. At the time, that seemed unlikely, with all the most obvious names each tied up in their own existing mobile strategy: HTC and Samsung had plenty on their hands with Android and Windows Phone, Apple has iOS, Nokia had thrown in with Microsoft, and LG was pushing away trying to reclaim market-share with what it already had.

If a significant name like Facebook jumped onboard, though, that could prove a major draw to webOS. Something certainly sufficient to get HP thinking about whether its own phones and/or tablets might make sense. webOS struggled for the large part because there was no single reason why it was better than Android or iOS: no one point of appeal that HP could build a promotional campaign around. Facebook’s 800m users would certainly be an instant audience.

It’ll take more than just open-source to get a webOS Facebook phone off the ground. After all, Android is free to use, and the social network is still believed to have struggled with that. The core problem at the time, it’s suggested, was money: Facebook management had simply underestimated quite how much building a device from scratch costs.

Those naive failures pushed the company into the arms of HTC and others, resulting in devices like the Salsa and ChaCha; phones bearing the Facebook brand but with software entirely the handiwork of HTC itself and caution from Mark Zuckerberg that, rather than being the true “Facebook Phones”, they were examples of how the social site could be integrated into mobile.

The opportunity to show the definitive example of that is finally coming together, though. Facebook will soon have the cash to invest significantly into a mobile strategy of its own, along with access to an OS that’s been significantly under-developed but still has the backing of a major player in the computing space. Think of it as the social network’s “Nexus” moment only, unlike Google, the focus isn’t on the core software but the overall user experience. Your social life, the new Open Graph apps, Facebook’s existing strengths in games, all colliding.

Facebook knows a huge part of its future will be taking social mobile. Soon enough, Mark Zuckerberg and Co. will have the cash to show its 800m+ users exactly how it believes Facebook on the move should look.

HP subsequently decided to release webOS as an open-source package, turning its focus back to PCs, laptops and Windows-based tablets.

However, while many have blamed HP for mishandling the webOS acquisition and the few devices the company launched running the software, Rubinstein himself has also been fingered for some of the blame. Sources within the company claim he selected WebKit for the underlying engine for webOS with little understanding of the technical challenges that would involve.

“We just weren’t able to execute such an ambitious and breakthrough design” Paul Mercer, former senior director of software at Palm claims, insisting that Rubinstein’s decision meant webOS phones and tablets would never be as slick in their performance as, say, Apple’s celebrated iPhone.

Rubinstein has “no immediate plans” according to the sources. Before his tenure at Palm, the exec worked at Apple, where he was instrumental in the company’s first generation iPod project.

Enyo will allow developers to create Open webOS applications that work browser independent, this meaning that WebKit will not be necessary, browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, and more working in this environment. This will allow webOS move beyond the hardware it’s been reliant on thus far and allow it to work natively in any browser. This should, if HP has aimed correctly, allow the ecosystem to be built, rebuilt, and grow.

HP has stated that they expect a major release of new software every one of the next six or seven months at least, these changes blowing the lid off of webOS with each iteration – in a good way! The whole project will be moving to the Apache 2.0 license wherever an yes, the rumors are true, switching to the standard Linux kernel. TouchPad owners can expect a new full webOS build by the end of Summer while hack-friendly folks will certainly be able to move forward sooner than that.

You can download Enyo right now from the brand new EnoJS.com, and expect webOS in the coming months – but none too soon. You can also follow Enyo specifically on Twitter if you wish: @enyojs

HP has also mentioned that all webOS devices out there today may very well be updated to a new version this year, they “looking” to see how viable they are in the short term. What you’re seeing above is a calendar showing off the different upgrades and releases that will happen throughout the year ending in September where we’re sure more additions will be made when the time is ripe. This all seem fabulous to you, webOS lovers?

[via HP Palm]

HP announced back in December that it would release webOS as an open-source platform, ending several months of speculation that the company could sell off or simply axe altogether the OS it acquired from Palm. The decision came after HP proved it could not commercialize webOS on its own; sales of the first webOS tablet, the HP TouchPad, were so unpromising that the company axed it within months.

Veghte thus faces the difficult challenge of best positioning HP in the computing and cloud markets, segments where PC sales have slowed and Apple dominates with its tightly-constructed ecosystem of devices and services. Nonetheless, it seems HP reckons the exec can manage it.

“Every 10 to 15 years, fundamental shifts occur in the IT industry that redefine how technology is delivered” HP CEO Meg Whitman said in a statement. “From mainframes to client/server to the internet, companies that identified the opportunity first and developed the right strategy came out on top. As we move forward, HP intends to stay on top.”

The iPhone 4S launch, it’s suggested, ate heavily into Android sales demand. iPhone purchases kicked off at 25.1-percent of new buys in October 2011, with Android phones monopolizing sales at 61.6-percent, but Apple demand grew to 38.8-percent and then 44.5-percent in November and December respectively, while Android demand dipped to 48.7-percent and 46.9-percent of new buyer acquisitions in the final two months of the year.

In December, 57-percent of new iPhone buyers opted for an iPhone 4S, according to the research firm.

As for other platforms, RIM’s market share for BlackBerry devices sits at 14.9-percent among all smartphone owners, though demand in Q4 was down to just 6-percent of those shopping for handsets in the period. Windows Phone is at 1.3-percent, with a slight uptick in Q4 interest, while Symbian, webOS and Windows Mobile all saw dwindling interest.

“We are well on our way in terms of progress” the team says, and “hope to give you something to play with soon.” Right now there are only two main outstanding issues to overcome: the camera doesn’t work, and video playback isn’t supported. Work on the latter is apparently ongoing.

That still means there’s plenty to see today, including Angry Birds and some smooth animated fish rendering. Connectivity – WiFi and Bluetooth – are both supported and functional, but the CM team still isn’t giving a fixed estimate on when TouchPad owners might be able to actually download the new ROM.

[via Engadget]

The webOS 3.0.5 update will bring a few additional features and some bug fixes, including new support for HTTP live streaming, faster calendar switching, and improved stability when handling videos and MP3s. The full list is shown below:

– Faster switching between Day, Week, and Month views, and faster event display in Calendar.
– Faster scrolling when reading an email message.
– Email attachments are now saved with draft messages.
– Added sender photos and IM presence indicators in Email.
– Improved stability when watching video in the Web app.
– Improved handling of MP3s that are transferred from a computer using USB Drive mode.
– Added a dedicated view of contacts available for a video call, for quicker setup of a video call.
– New alert when video quality might be lower because of network issues.
– When typing, pressing the space bar twice inserts a period. This can be toggled on and off.
– Auto-correction can be turned off directly from the onscreen keyboard.
– Added support for HTTP Live Streaming.

Additionally, HP has rolled out an update to webOS 2.2.4 for the unlocked Pre 2 on AT&T and Verizon, and unlocked Pre 3 phones. For the Pre 2 expect improvements in Skype voice calling and messaging and overall messaging, calendar and contacts enhancements.

[via PhoneNews]

WebKit’s shortcomings, and an accelerated development timescale that forced each app to be initially built from scratch, then subsequently rebuilt by Palm and again for the second time by HP as the webOS framework took shape, resulted in significant returns. Palm saw “extremely high return rates” of the original Pre, a former apps employee claims, as early-adopters discovered it was sluggish and unstable.

webOS also suffered significantly from the loss of Matias Duarte, who jumped ship to Google in May 2010. Known as the architect of the webOS user experience, Duarte’s departure opened the door to in-fighting and power grabbing as HP got to grips with the newly-acquired platform.

“[Matias Duarte] was WebOS … When he left, the vacuum was just palpable. What you’re seeing is frankly a bunch of fourth- and fifth-stringers jumping onto WebOS in the wake of Duarte’s leaving” Unnamed former webOS team member

Since then, HP has been through a number of CEOs and has decided to make webOS open-source. HP has left the door open for potential future hardware running the platform, though that is believed to be heavily dependent on whether webOS finds favor among third-party hardware and software producers. That, Mercer suggests, is still unlikely, as the root performance issues of WebKit remain.

It’s no surprise then that HP had a hard time finding any takers. The value of Palm had dropped significantly since HP’s purchase and the WebOS platform flopped with HP’s TouchPad fiasco and smartphone fumbles with the Pre 3 and Veer. HP was rumored to be in talks with Amazon, Samsung, Intel, Facebook and several others.

The initial asking price of $1.2 billion was likely lowered, but the source suggests that the value would have to be lower than $500 million for any serious considerations. It probably didn’t help that HP also demanded continued access to WebOS for use in its printers.

[via VentureBeat]

You’ll get a full hands-on treatment with this device courtesy of the Nation right below this paragraph, including no less than benchmarks, Ken Burns effects sliding in and out, and Asphalt 6 running quite nicely for superior racing action. As they say, webOS 3.0 works “without compromise” on this smaller device, and it’s a pretty big bummer that the device will never see the light of day because it’s certainly not the least impressive tablet in the history of mobile. On the other hand, the cameras aren’t fantastic, the tablet is thick, and again, this tablet will never be sold to the public.

For a much more interesting and relevant vision for you the consumer, if that’s who you are, head to our timeline below to see how the released version of the TouchPad worked out over the past year. It’s a hundred-dollar madness fest you’ll never want to forget! That, and the idea that there might be SOME TouchPad Go units out there in the wild able to be hacked up is an interesting thought to think through. Let’s run some iOS on that mother!

[via WebOSNation]

Despite the limited numbers – which, going by when the listings were closed, were all sold in under 25 minutes – the attention was still enough to make eBay sluggish and reduce PayPal to a litany of error messages and failed transactions. HP was forced to order a second production run after strong final sales back in August outstripped supply.

Unfortunately, this time around, while the TouchPad itself was something of a bargain, shipping fees were not. HP levied a flat rate of $19 – as much as a fifth of the actual TouchPad price itself – for the refurbished units, something which has earned it a thorough drubbing in the eBay feedback. In contrast the company offers free shipping on its refurb PCs and TouchSmart all-in-ones.

According to a leaked memo last week, the TouchPad sale was intended for HP staff wanting to pick up one of the cancelled tablets, something which perhaps failed to take place given it was so quickly made public.

The TouchPad demand could well have been fueled by the news that HP is making the webOS platform open-source, allowing developers and other manufacturers to step in, adopt and modify it for their own use. However, the simple lure of a sub-$100 brand-name tablet when an iPad runs to four times that amount is more likely the motivation, just as we saw earlier in the year when HP swiftly sold out of its first TouchPad fire sale.

Unfortunately for international would-be buyers, HP has still not released any new TouchPad units outside of the US in recent sales promotions. The market for a second-hand TouchPad is likely to be flooded with supplies, however, as while HP and eBay chose to limit customer orders to two units, that only applied on a per-listing basis. With several listings for each model, those with fast mouse fingers found they could grab a handful of webOS tablets.

Those looking to do more with their TouchPad than simply browse and check email in webOS could do worse than exploring an unofficial build of Android on the slate. Instructions can be found here.

2012 will see HPs Windows 8 based tablets reach the market, the company has previously suggested, using Microsoft’s freshly updated platform with its finger-friendly Metro UI. The OS has obvious advantages for HP, being directly compatible with its laptop and desktop hardware, and thus applicable both to a consumer market looking for iPad/Android tablet alternatives, and enterprise/vertical markets needing something that can integrate with an established ecosystem of Microsoft-based PC hardware.

Beyond that, however, HP seems keen to “explore the viability of putting webOS on devices” according to its open-source FAQ, though whether that exploration will result in a commercial release remains very much to be seen. The company says it “plans to remain active in the development and support of webOS” but that “making webOS open source will accelerate the development of the webOS platform and application ecosystem.”

Nonetheless, even with a webOS team within HP, without flagship hardware from the company to demonstrate the potential value of the platform it’s hard to imagine that other manufacturers would be inspired to adopt it themselves. With no guiding hand putting its production money where its mouth is – and HP in fact vocally insisting that, for the meantime, it is wedded to Microsoft and merely considering the possibility of webOS devices “as we do for other leading operating systems” – the software advantages may not be sufficient to convince that there’s commercial viability, especially given HP’s own struggles selling webOS tablets and phones.

That leaves the option of treating webOS as a niche platform, again something presenting limited hope for the sort of broad adoption it will require to sufficiently challenge Windows, Android and iOS, or hoping that another manufacturer will be not only capable of handling commercializing the OS better than HP has done, but willing to do so without full control of the software moving forward.

As you may well know, the announcement a few months ago that HP would get out of the business of working with webOS as a mobile operating system came as quite a shock to those hoping for a future on the Palm side of things here in the mobile environment of 2011. On the other hand, as HP employees continued to hold their Palm smartphones in their hands with great hope for an unannounced future, they today came to realize once more the uncertainty of the truth. While HP’s current status with the operating system has seen a sudden reinvigoration due to the open source announcement, they only have a written possibility in their FAQ that they will “explore the viability of putting webOS on devices, just as we do for other leading operating systems.”

Meanwhile HP plans to remain active in the support and development of webOS, and current users of devices such as the TouchPad can continue to expect updates to their software regularly. As HP states, making webOS open source will only accelerate the development of the webOS platform as well as the application ecosystem, this of course ringing true as a positive future situation for everyone involved. Who will take the reigns next? Or will it be an Android situation where everyone under the sun takes a piece of the pie?

[via HP]

With this move webOS is moving into Android territory, with availability of the code now open to the world to use on a wide variety of devices as well as developers hoping to get in on the relative ground level of what now appears to be a very viable option for mobile devices. This after having seen a near complete collapse after HP deciding they’d no longer produce webOS-based hardware and selling their TouchPad stock out in a fire sale that saw the world clamoring for cheap slates. Now HP will make the underlying code of webOS available to the open source community under an open source license — HP president and chief executive officer Meg Whitman noted the following at the announcement:

“webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable. By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.” – Whitman

With this move, HP plans on hitting four key points for the future of webOS:

• The goal of the project is to accelerate the open development of the webOS platform
• HP will be an active participant and investor in the project
• Good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation
• Software will be provided as a pure open source project

In addition to the underlying code, HP will contribute ENYO, the application framework for webOS, to the open source community in the near future. Those of you interested in getting in on this project by providing input and suggestions can do so at http://developer.palm.com/blog/ or right here in this post, of course. Looking bright for webOS!

There is no indication of what will happen to WebOS at this point after it has failed at every turned to generate a user following or a high degree of developer interest. The last use of WebOS was for the TouchPad that hit the market and was cancelled after barely a month thanks to very poor sales of the slate. The tablet had some surprising popularity when it went on sale for $99 but ultimately it was a failure.

The fate of WebOS has been cloudy with rumors pointing to HP looking to sell the OS to the highest bidder and take the lumps that will surely come in the form of a massive loss on the premium the company paid for Palm to get WebOS. Some think that WebOS might be attractive to bidders simply for the patents that come along with it. Talk has also swirled about HP keeping the OS and trying to use it in other ways, such as inside printers. I don’t see WebOS in printers being any more successful than it has been in other segments. What do you think will happen?

[via Precentral]

Also, this time around, the tablets offered will be refurbished models and there is a limit of two per customer. Sales are final and there is only a 90-day warranty. The 16GB model will be priced at $99 while the 32GB model will be priced at $149. An additional 3-piece accessory bundle will also be offered that includes a case, charging dock, and wireless keyboard for $79.

The HP TouchPad sports a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 10-inch 1024 x 768 pixel resolution display. It comes running the now defunct webOS 3.0 platfom, but some folks have managed to port Android to the device. For more details on getting Android on the HP TouchPad, make sure to check out this post on the Alpha 3 version at Android Community.

Many have been waiting on HP’s official position on webOS, with rumors swirling that the company is still looking to offload the platform it acquired as part of the Palm buy several years back. “This is not an easy decision, because we have a team of 600 people which is in limbo” Whitman suggested. “We need to have another operating system.”

It’s unclear if Whitman meant that HP itself needed another operating system, or if she felt the tech industry as a whole needed the extra competition webOS could bring. According to recent leaks, the only thing HP has webOS earmarked for is internet-connected printers, something that it has been muttering about since the Palm acquisition itself.

The first HP Windows 8 tablet will arrive in 2012, Whitman confirmed, though positioned as a media consumption and emailing machine rather than a PC alternative. “We will try to become the champion in 2013″ she concluded.

[via CNET]

HP has been wedded to the idea of webOS in printers since the early days of its Palm acquisition, though we’re yet to see the platform actually show up in a paper cruncher. The OS would presumable replacing Android in models similar to the HP eStation C510, shown above, which used Google’s open-source platform – along with a reskin from HP’s own software engineers – on a removable control tablet with social networking integration and other multimedia tools.

The guess is that HP has already been working on its webOS printer line-up, and is keen not to scrap those new models in the pipeline while still washing its hands of webOS responsibility. Also up for grabs are Palm’s patents, themselves potentially a money-spinner in this age of high-profile litigation.

Previous potential buyers cited in earlier leaks include Oracle and Samsung, though most companies publicly named have been quick to distance themselves from rumors.

The photos come from Chinese site Palm Joy, revealing a device with the same 4:3 aspect ratio display as its 10-inch brother but it slightly thinner and also has its dedicated home screen button located on the long-side. It’s said to be 3G-capable and features a 1024 x 768 resolution screen, a 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor, 32GB of Sandisk internal storage, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash. It also has GPS, Bluetooth, and NFC.

HP’s suppliers are believed to be stuck with excess TouchPad components following the company’s decision to cancel the product line. Reports suggest that the suppliers could have as much as 100,000 units of the 7-inch TouchPad Go.

There are rumors circulating again that HP is considering selling off WebOS. According to Reuters, the deal could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. HP will undoubtedly be left with some negative equity. There is little chance that it will get the $1.2 billion back in a sale of WebOS that it paid for Palm. Apparently, the appeal that some firms are seeing in WebOS is the patents that come with it more than a desire to put the operating system into another product.

Names that are connected with the purchase rumor include Oracle Corp according to an unnamed source. HP is said to be getting advice on the sale from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as it weighs the benefits of selling or keeping WebOS. HP was rumored late last month to be considering shutting WebOS down.

[via Reuters]

The HP TouchPad tablet sold out quickly during the fire sale following the announcement that it would be discontinued back in August. The $99 fire sale TouchPad tablets proved so popular that HP scheduled another production run of the tablets to fulfill backorders. It’s hard to say if this new Best Buy deal, pricing them at $149.99 with the requirement of an additional computer purchase, would prove to be as hot an item, but we also didn’t expect it the first time around.

When HP first announced discontinuing WebOS hardware, including the Veer, Pre3, and TouchPad, it had insisted that it would continue support and development of the WebOS software. But following the announcement this week that HP has reversed plans to spin off its PC business, there are new reports that the WebOS software division will soon be completely shutdown. The changes have come after Meg Whitman became HP’s new CEO, replacing Leo Apotheker after his short 11 month stint that was riddled with communication missteps.

[via Reuters]

There are currently about 500 employees working in the WebOS unit, but several top-level staff have recently left, which is a telling sign. It’s believed that some WebOS staff will be moved to a different division within HP, while others will be laid off. “There’s a 95% chance we all get laid off between now and November, and I for one am thinking it’s for the best,” said one WebOS employee.

WebOS was acquired by HP back in 2010 through the acquisition of Palm for $1.2 billion. HP-branded WebOS devices, such as the HP TouchPad, were first announced back in February and launched for only a few months before the company, under former CEO Leo Apotheker’s lead, announced that it would discontinue WebOS hardware, spin-off its PC business, and acquire software company Autonomy for $10 billion to transition into an enterprise software and services company.

With the replacement of Apotheker with new CEO Meg Whitman, HP has re-evaluated its situation and determined that it will be more beneficial to keep and manage its PC unit within HP than to spin it off into a separate company. It’s believed that HP may resurrect its TouchPad tablet or a new version of it that will be powered by Microsoft’s Windows 8.

[via Guardian]

The HP sources revealed to FoxNews that the hardware team has been busy testing the Windows 8 developer release on the HP TouchPad and that there have been internal discussions about resurrecting the tablet or even building a completely new device to run Windows 8. This seems to go against HP’s plans to spin-off its PC hardware unit, making a transition into enterprise software as was announced back in August.

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.

[via MobileBurn]

The only significant sales that HP mustered with webOS was when the price of the TouchPad was slashed to $99 and Android ports started to surface for the tablet. HP isn’t sure what to do with webOS at this point, the company still maintains the OS will be used on printers. I see more fail in that arena for webOS. A new rumor has surfaced that casts doubts on webOS even surfacing in printers at this point.

The rumor comes from an unnamed source that tipped mobielburn claiming that Richard Kerris, the head of webOS developer relations at HP will be leaving the company. Where Kerris is going is unknown. According to the source, the departure of Kerris has been announced to HP employees and is expected to go public soon. As it is now this is firmly in rumor land so we can only wait and see if it is true.

[via Mobileburn]

HP obtained the WebOS platform through the acquisition of Palm for $1.2 billion last year. But now that HP is clearly not interested in further investing the capital needed to make WebOS competitive with Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, RIM’s BlackBerry OS, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, it would have to decide whether to sell, spinoff, or license the platform.

It’s believed that HP has already finished the initial bidding process for its WebOS unit and that the all-hands meeting tomorrow will determine which path to follow, be it selling or spinning off the unit. So far, it’s looking more likely that HP will opt to sell the platform. Amazon has recently been rumored to be a top contender, but neither company has commented on the reports and Amazon also just launched the Kindle Fire with a customized Android build.

[via AppleInsider]

For those of you wanting to get in on the process for installing this system, head over to the original XDA thread where it’s all going down, but know this: it IS an Alpha release, which means there certainly are bugs. In addition, you’ll need the community-authored tool “Preware” as well as an alternate app store (Android Marketplace isn’t here quite yet) and a set of other tools and tweaks to keep running. Limits currently include basically no usable storage, no Google apps, and – oh yeah – it’s in Chinese.

Preware, for those of you that don’t know, is an easy install that can be deleted after you’re done with it, this allowing you to work with the innards of your WebOS device, in this case your HP TouchPad. The developers behind this particular install of Android say that they’ll be continuing their work on the system and will be “ironing out” kinks for future releases, as well as flipping the whole thing so that Android can run as a “card” in your WebOS interface. Sound nice to you? Go ahead and hack now if you want, or wait a few weeks and the whole process should be made quite a bit easier – whichever you choose!

Also check out this alternate means of dual-booting Android and WebOS from just a couple of days ago – everyone wants both!

[via Android Community]

The video shows an early build of the ACME Installer and the HP TouchPad being used. The first thing the installer does is mount the TouchPad to a Mac using USB. Then he makes a folder on the TouchPad called cminstall and copies the cm-update…zip file to the folder. The install of the mod requires the novacom program to run the zip file that has the payload in it.

After a short little while, the installation is done and you can then boot into Android on the tablet and then go back to WebOS whenever you want. There will be step-by-step instructions when the installer is ready to go alpha. The person on the video notes that the demo isn’t an indication that the software needed for this mod will hit alpha soon. Check the video out below.

[via Android Community]

There have also been rumors swirling around that Amazon was looking to buy WebOS from HP. That would seem to indicate that the aim for HP moving forward would be licensing for the OS. I would expect with webOS failing at every turn that the licensees would be few and far between. The HP source also said that webOS would appear next year.

This isn’t the first item we have heard webOS was coming to printers, but it’s just as boring this time around. Do you think WebOS has any chance of succeeding in the printer world? There was no hint of webOS in other products.

[via Pocket-lint]

VB’s interpretation, however, is that both hardware and software are up for grabs, with HP looking to wash its hands of the whole failed endeavor. That’s despite the company’s talk shortly after axing the HP TouchPad - and canceling its upcoming smartphone release plans – that it was looking to license rather than sell webOS, and still had collaborative hopes for the software.

Those hopes, according to ex-Palm CEO, current HP “Product Innovation” chief and Amazon board member Jon Rubinstein, already tipped Amazon as a possible partner. “We’d like a partner that would allow us to expand the webOS ecosystem” he told This is my next back in July:

“There’s a variety of different sets of a characteristics to qualify as a good partner. I would say Amazon would certainly make a great partner, because they have a lot of characteristics that would help them expand the webOS ecosystem. As to whether there’s been discussions or not… that’s obviously not something I’m going to comment about.”

Whether Amazon would be interested in webOS in return, though, is less clear. The company launched its first tablet, the Kindle Fire, earlier this week, and much has been made of its heavily-reskinned Android 2.3 OS and how that could allow the retailer to in effect swap the underlying platform with little visible UI change to users. However, part of Amazon’s value proposition with the Kindle Fire is the Amazon Appstore for Android, something it could not carry across to webOS.

Instead, it seems possible that Amazon could be more keen on the Palm hardware business. Palm is known to have had several phone and tablet designs – including a 7-inch slate and a TouchPad-replacing 10-inch slate – on the roadmap, which could give Amazon a head start on its own product plans. We’ve already seen the retailer reportedly use the BlackBerry PlayBook as a template for the Kindle Fire; a bigger tablet is apparently in development for launch in early 2012.

HP has declined to comment on “rumors and speculation” while Amazon is yet to respond.

McAdam echoed the sentiment of other carriers, which feel that the mobile space will ultimately boil down to three major platforms. At the beginning of this year, the top mobile ecosystems were Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, Nokia’s Symbian, RIM’s BlackBerry, and HP’s WebOS. At present, Nokia has abandoned Symbian for Windows Phone and HP has ditched WebOS. That leaves BlackBerry and Windows Phone to duke it out.

“The carriers are beginning to coalesce around the need for a third ecosystem,” said McAdam. “Over the next 12 months I think it will coalesce and you will start to see one emerge as a legitimate third ecosystem. In my opinion, it’ll be between RIM and Microsoft, and I expect Microsoft to come out victorious.”

[via IntoMobile]

Apotheker did make some sweeping changes during the past 11 months that have surprised shareholders, but not in a good way. HP’s stock took a 47 percent plunge under his leadership, which also saw three cut backs on sales forecasts, a major $10.3 billion acquisition of Autonomy Corp, a possible spin-off of the company’s PC business, and a shocking reversal on plans for the WebOS mobile platform that was announced merely 5 months ago.

Although the changes were intended to help HP transition into higher-margin products with focus on cloud computing, investors felt that the company risks paying too much for Autonomy and that the spin-off of the PC business was announced too soon. Such a quick abandonment of WebOS and how management has generally been communicating and handling matters in recent months have all added to the growing doubt of Apotheker’s credibility.

Since Bloomberg and AllThingsD reported these claims that HP is considering ousting Apotheker and replacing him with Whitman, HP’s shares have actually increased by almost 8 percent, adding almost $3 billion to HP’s market valuation.

Meanwhile there have also been improvements on sound support, with the TouchPad’s Beats Audio blessed speakers now functional. Multitouch touchscreen support was added earlier in the month, and there’s working WiFi and accelerometer. Unfortunately there’s still a list of components not yet playing nicely with Android: the front-facing camera and Bluetooth for a start, as well as accurate reporting on battery status. Some of the sensors aren’t working either, like the digital compass and gyroscope.

As always, the Cyanogenmod team’s plan is to only release a ROM when it’s ready for public consumption, so TouchPad owners wanting a taste of Android will have to hold off for a while until that’s the case. The eventual goal is a dual-boot option, giving a choice of Android or webOS.

[via Android Community]

“As communicated on August 18, HP will discontinue the development of webOs devices within the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ends Oct 31 2011. As part of this decision, the webOS GBU is undergoing a reduction in workforce. Today’s actions are part of this initiative. During this time, we stand by our commitment to our webOS customers and will work to ensure that support and service for customers are not adversely affected. HP is exploring ways to leverage webOS software” HP statement

Those mysterious ways could include licensing webOS to a third-party, something HP is apparently exploring as the preferred alternative to selling on the platform, or resurrecting it after spinning off the company’s computing hardware business altogether. HP is rumored to be splitting software and hardware in two, keeping the webOS software team as it distances itself from the device side.

Underwhelming sales of the HP TouchPad led the company to axe the tablet, as well as the imminent Pre3 smartphone, back in August. A subsequent firesale saw the remaining TouchPad stocks cut to $100, with demand unsurprisingly exceeding supply and forcing HP to schedule a final production run to meet orders.

Other specifications apparently include NFC support and 16GB of onboard storage. There’s also a rear-facing camera with an LED flash, something the 9.7-inch TouchPad didn’t have, together with a front-facing webcam. A SIM slot and user-accessible battery are found under the back cover, and the dual-core processor is the same as in the larger versin.

According to leaks earlier this year, the HP Opal was expected to go on sale sometime this fall. That’s obviously not going to happen now, though HP is reportedly hoping to spin off its computing hardware group and there are suggestions that the tablet range could be resurrected once that happens.

[via This is my next]

Misek points out that many of the potential buyers for WebOS, such as Sony Ericsson, ZTE, and Huawei, are content with sourcing both Android and Windows, instead of developing or buying their own OS. Others like Samsung, Baidu, and Amazon, have already invested resources in developing their own platforms, while Nokia is committed to Microsoft and HTC has expressed interest but is in no hurry to move forward.

Facebook, on the other hand, has increasingly moved towards media with a rumored music service, and communications with its Messenger app. It also has a strong developer community and has reportedly been intersted in a mobile OS or at least heavily influencing one. Recall the many rumors of an imminent Facebook phone? However, what launched instead were phones with Facebook integration, such as the HTC ChaCha.

Additionally, Misek notes that carriers do want a third contender in the smartphone ecosystem, which is now dominated by Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Windows would seem like the logical third player, but the company has historically executed its mobile strategy poorly and concerns over Google’s Motorola purchase could leave manufacturers with no choice other than Windows should Google integrate vertically.

[via Forbes]

IDC attributes the strong worldwide shipment of tablets in Q2 to the demand for Apple’s iPad 2, which shipped 9.3 million units and represents a 68.3 percent share of the entire worldwide tablet market. This was a slight increase from the previous quarter of 65.7 percent. RIM entered the market with the PlayBook reaching 4.9 percent share and, surprisingly, Android tablets slipped down to 26.8 percent from the previous quarter of 34 percent.

Android tablet share is expected to see another drop down to 23 percent in Q3 before it jumps back up in Q4 to 25.9 percent. HP’s WebOS tablet share will see an increase to 4.7 percent in Q3 due to the $99 fire sale but since production is discontinued, its share should disappear by the first quarter of 2012.

The expectation for Amazon’s tablet, however, will not benefit the Android tablet share, as IDC is considering the much rumored slate to be an e-reader that will compete directly with Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color rather than Apple’s iPad 2.

E-reader shipments took a dip in Q2, down 9 percent to 5.4 million units, but is expected to grow through the holiday season and reach a total of 27 million units for 2011.

[via MarketWatch]

“We worked very closely with HP on webOS – we’re all waiting to see exactly what happens. HP has talked about not making devices with it, but then talked about spinning off the PSG. It’s really a little up in the air at the moment. We do like the idea that webOS would continue, we put a lot of effort into that relationship and it’s a nice OS. More choice is better for developers. But it’s really HP’s call at the moment” Paul Jacobs, CEO, Qualcomm

Jacobs was not short of praise for webOS, pointing to the platform’s web-centric development and app framework, and saying that it did fall in line, in that sense, with Qualcomm’s own vision of the mobile future. webOS apps are native to the device they’re loaded to, rather than dwelling in the cloud, but are built using the same standard HTML, CSS and JavaScript as their web-based counterparts. A JavaScript framework around that then gives standardized UI widgets, and access to selected device hardware and services.

The lack of an outright denial by Jacobs is unlikely to see Qualcomm removed from the unofficial list of potential webOS suitors. Still, as a possibility it does seem somewhat unlikely: as one analyst pointed out to SlashGear at IQ2011, Qualcomm’s motivation with BREW was the absence of any suitable competing platform for the entry-level smartphone segment.

There’s no such shortage of options in the mainstream smartphone segment, though, and only potential overlap and confusion between Qualcomm and its OEMs were it to challenge Android, Windows Phone and others by pushing webOS.

According to Wang, HTC is better placed to integrate an acquired OS into its product range because of what HTC Sense brings to the table. Originally a simple UI reskin, Sense has evolved into a comprehensive interface as well as a suite of apps and services. With investments and acquisitions in streaming media and cloud gaming platforms, such as HTC Watch and OnLive, the company is able to differentiate not just on aesthetics but on a package of functionality rivals can’t replicate.

“We can use any OS we want. We are able to make things different from our rivals on the second or third layer of a platform” Wang suggests. However, the chairwoman doesn’t necessarily believe that having its own in-house software is a prerequisite for success. “Our strength lies in understanding an OS, but it does not mean that we have to produce an OS” she continued.

Nonetheless, HTC isn’t the first smartphone manufacturer to mull its software strengths in the light of Google’s recent acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Last month, details of internal Samsung meetings suggested that the company was reconsidering its software “competitiveness,” with chairman Lee Kun-hee telling his board that “we must pay attention to the fact that IT power is moving away from hardware companies such as Samsung to software companies.”

Samsung later denied any intention of buying webOS and instead says it is looking to strengthen its own bada platform. Earlier this month, the company unveiled its latest bada-based phone, the Wave 3, though the handset was overshadowed by Samsung’s Android announcements.

HTC, meanwhile, doesn’t have a home-grown OS to focus on, though Sense is arguably evolving to offer the distinctive top layer of one. Last month, CEO Peter Chou suggested that rather than OS it was ecosystem that was most important to a device’s success, reiterating HTC’s support for the Google/Motorola deal.

[via The Next Web]