HP to make webOS open source; is it just prolonging the end?
HP announced today that they are making webOS open source, but with no partner or hardware announcements is there any reason someone would stick around?
HP announced today that they are making webOS open source, but with no partner or hardware announcements is there any reason someone would stick around?
If you have been thinking of a BB PlayBook, then you may want to swing by Best Buy this weekend or hope the rumors of a Staples 50% sale come about next week.
HP is launching their TouchPad webOS-based tablet this Friday, 1 July, and the embargo has lifted on reviews. Most rate it just as an above average tablet that can't yet compete with the iPad.
The HP Veer 4G is a small webOS smartphone, but seems to be a step back from the previous Palm devices. Mal spent a week with the device and posts her impressions.
Now that CES, MWC, and CTIA are all wrapped up it is a good time to go through and list what we can consider the top 10 smartphones for the first half of 2011. That will likely change this summer when Apple announces a new iPhone and more Android devices hit the streets.
HP recently made a deal to purchase Palm and with that there is speculation on what HP will do with webOS. We heard today that one future product will be a webOS-powered printer.
Now that HP will be the owner of Palm's webOS, I have to wonder if we will see them challenging RIM in the enterprise market. Microsoft seems to be moving away from the enterprise with Windows Phone 7 so there may be a nice spot to fill here.
Speculation on a possible Palm buyer has ranged from Lenovo to HTC to RIM and more. We can now put that all aside and thank the mobile gods that HP is buying Palm for a reported $1.2 billion. As a Palm webOS fan myself I have to say I am rather excited about the news since there is now a large company behind Palm and it looks like webOS will continue to be supported for years to come.
One of the slickest and most convenient functions of the Palm Pre (see my review) was the ability to sync seamlessly with Apple iTunes. As CNET reports, the latest iTunes 8.2.1 update breaks the Palm Pre iTunes synchronization. This wasn't really unexpected, but it is a bit disappointing if Apple created this update just to break the Pre sync capability. They could have just left it alone and let those few Pre owners enjoy and continue to purchase and support iTunes.
We missed recording a show last week since I was in line for my iPhone 3GS, the first time, and so now have our second show of the week for you all to enjoy. James, Kevin, and I all started off MobileTechRoundup show #176 by talking about the announcement of the new HTC Hero and HTC Sense UI coming later this year. Palm seems to be doing well with Pre downloads, but needs to get their SDK out for applications to start filling up the Palm App Catalog. Kevin mentioned that iPhone tethering works with a simple provisioning file and then we each told how much we would be willing to pay for the service that should be coming to AT&T a bit later. There are a couple of slick new netbooks available from HP and ASUS and Kevin has one in his shopping cart. There won't be a show next week since we'll be off enjoying the 4th of July.