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Facebook should buy webOS - Analyst

It may sound absurd, but one Jeffries analyst, Peter Misek, has proposed in a research note that Facebook ought to purchase HP’s jettisoned webOS mobile platform.

Misek believes that none of the other potential buyers will likely place a bid and given Facebook’s own trajectory towards media and communications, that the social network would be the best suitor.

Misek points out that many of the potential buyers for webOS, such as Sony Ericsson, ZTE, and Huawei, are content with sourcing both Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, instead of developing or buying their own Operating System (OS).

HTC may consider buying webOS to get rid of Apple's patent war

How would you feel if you were the Chair of the first company to come out with a phone running a cool but very risky new Operating System (OS), backed it with all your resources, came out with some of the coolest products in the market and did all you could to make it look good, only to see its developer go marry someone creakier and far less smart just to avoid getting sued?

Especially when the remains of the market leave you dependent on your former swain as the only way to compete with the Apple Marketing Machine and its iOS juggernaut.

HP TouchPad webOS tablets are sold out as soon as they hit shelves

The HP TouchPad has now been called one of the most desirable gadgets of the summer.  

When the price was reduced to US$99 (€69) for the 16 GB model it sold out in one weekend. 
People were pleading for a cheap tablet, making videos and souring Twitter for information.

TouchPad tablets made brief appearances on QVC and TigerDirect and then disappeared in an instant,  last week. 
QVC offered a US$200 (€145) package with a 32GB  TouchPad, case and charger that sold-out before any one could write about it.

Those who bought the HP TouchPad at full price from QVC are getting refunds.

All is still quiet on the HP front since we heard that HP will be making more HP ToucPad tablets. 
Those who signed up for the Email notification of product avaialility were given a one-time-special offer.

Searching for the tablet PC selling price that consumers will feel is right

Is US$99 (€69) the magic number for tablet computers?

Tech giant HP couldn't sell its TouchPad tablets until it reduced the price to US$99, slashing hundreds of dollars off the original cost.
Then they flew off the shelves.

The wildly popular promotion, in the wake of HP announcing that it was quitting the tablet business, may have some people thinking that US$99 is the tipping point, when tablets will shift from being the coveted gadget of the few to an accessory that almost everyone has, like a mobile phone or laptop computer.

But for now, analysts say, US$99 is not a realistic retail price for a tablet computer that isn't a toy.

Intel to freeze MeeGo development - Rumors

There may be another victim in the smartphone-strewn battlefield of the mobile Operating Systems (OS) wars.

Intel’s MeeGo OS could be dropped from the ranks due to a lack of enthusiasm from smartphone and tablet manufacturers.
Industry sources say Intel will instead focus on hardware and turn to Google's Android or Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 as a platform for mobile devices that debut in 2012.

We asked Intel about the report, from Taiwanese publication Digitimes, and got this response:

"Intel does not comment on industry speculation or rumor. We remain committed to MeeGo and open source, and will continue to work with the community to help develop and meet the needs of customers and end users."

Nokia officially abandoned MeeGo, and its own Symbian Operating System, in favor of Windows Phone 7 in February 2011.

Samsung has no plan to buy or license webOS - CEO

Samsung, the world’s No. 2 maker of smartphones, said it would never purchase or license webOS from Hewlett-Packard (HP).

The company believes in its own Bada platform and thinks that it will eventually compete against Apple’s iOS and Google Android.

Choi Gee Sung, Samsung' Chief Executive Officer, said that the company would “never pursue such a deal” at the IFA 2011 consumer electronics fair.

The company officially clarified its position afterwards:
The firm believes that it is not right just to buy Operating Systems (OS) and not develop anything on its own.

From the floor of IFA 2011 Berlin

The IFA 2011 consumer electronics fair in Berlin, Germany, which opened to the press on Wednesday, is shaping up as a battleground for tablet computer makers to attack the Apple iPad's dominant market position.

Fears of a recession have not hit the German capital, where fair organisers said they had expanded its exhibition surface by four percent as the number of participants edged higher to 1,441.

Last year, the IFA attracted 235,000 visitors and it will be open to the public from Friday until 7th September 2011.

Apple's shadow hovers once again over the event, which is often presented at the European equivalent to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA).

Although the US company itself is not present, it typically presents products at dedicated shows of its own, Apple products are on the minds of most visitors here.

Now that it is discontinued, HP TouchPad generates as much ad revenue as all Android tablets combined

Apparently, US$99 (€69) is the magic number for a tablet.

When HP reduced the price of the now discontinued TouchPad to US$99, it began a bit of a frenzy, with people rushing to get their hands on one of the ultra cheap tablets.

Early in the morning after HP’s price drop, people began snapping up TouchPads left and right. Some people even camped out for a few hours to get their mitts on one.

As a result, the TouchPad has ended up being the most profitable non-iPad tablet so far, in terms of ad revenue.

HP to produce a last round of TouchPads before the end of the year to address high demand

And on the 61st day, the HP TouchPad rose again.

HP has plans to produce another round of its TouchPad tablets before the year is out, despite its earlier decision to discontinue its mobile hardware products.

“Despite announcing an end to manufacturing webOS hardware, we have decided to produce one last run of TouchPads to meet unfulfilled demand,” HP spokesman Mark Budgell wrote in a company blog post. “As we know more about how, when, and where TouchPads will be available, we will communicate that here and through Email to those who requested notification.”

Budgell says it will be a few weeks before devices from the additional run will be available for purchase.

Samsung could buy webOS and drop Android - Rumor

With the HP TouchPad fire sale marking the end of any new HP hardware coming with webOS, the next question is what could be the faith of the popular mobile Operating System (OS)?

As HP explained, they plan to license out the OS and are currently in talks with one party.

According to sources, recent reports suggest that "Samsung may be one of the prime suitors to pick webOS from HP and add it to their arsenal. Many publications are suggesting that this will be an effort from Samsung to differentiate themselves in the mobile market especially due to the fact that Google recently announced their plans to completely purchase Motorola Mobility."

It is done! Android is now running on HP TouchPad (video)

There have been a flurry of efforts in recent days aimed at getting a workable version of Google's Android up-and-running on the webOS-based HP TouchPad.

The mission has been funded in part by modding community called HackNMod, which is hoping to give the tablet’s early adopters an Operating System (OS) with a more certain future:
Android.

It appears that the CyanogenMod team has finally made that happen.

According to a public statement and accompanying video, the developers say they now have an alpha version of the CyanogenMod 7 firmware running on the TouchPad.

Windows Phone 7 is the most stable mobile Operating System

As regular readers know, we have used nearly every mobile phone Operating System (OS) over the years and bounce around between devices, Operating Systems, and carriers faster than most people we know.

We have been using Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 since July 2010 and can say without a doubt that Windows Phone 7 has been the most stable and reliable mobile phone Operating System we have ever used, even counting the early technical preview and current beta development versions of Mango that we have been running on our phones.

People may have preconceived notions about Microsoft’s mobile platform given that Pocket PC and Windows Mobile had issues, but you can throw all of that out the window and if you give Windows Phone 7 an honest chance we think you will find out the same thing.

Get Android running on a TouchPad and cash a US$2,100 bounty

Directly following the discontinuation sale, an HP TouchPad was seen running Google's Android Operating System (OS) in a series of videos that went viral from a user who snagged a US$99 (€69) TouchPad from from the US electronic retailer chain Best Buy.

Manufactured by HP to run webOS, a TouchPad was seen being sold with a costly price tag on Ebay running Android 2.2.1 "Froyo" software.
Multiple videos posted by the Ebay user show an HP TouchPad running the Android OS, flashing the logo of research and development company "Qualcomm Innovation Center (Quic)" when loading.

While the origin of the Android TouchPad, which has unofficially been called the TouchDroid, remains unknown, Qualcomm could have accidently let an experimental device part of an initiative to bridge the Android OS to the TouchPad onto the retail market, fall into the hands of a consumer.

35% of tablet PCs owners bring their devices to the bathroom - study

In a study surely to make hypochondriacs cringe at the thought of touching any tablet, owners of tablets are admitting to taking the device into the bathroom to play Angry Birds and watch video while on the toilet or in the tub.

Interested in consumer behavior regarding tablet usage, US office-supply retailer Staples decided to poll a group of tablet users during June 2011 to find out typical patterns in personal and business related daily use.

Thirty-five percent of tablet owners owned up to consistently bringing the mobile device into the bathroom.
Thirty percent of tablet owners bring their Apple's iPads or their favorite Google's Android-based tablets into restaurants and 78% of all respondents take the tab into bed.  
Sixty percent of tablet owners take the thin device on vacation to check up with the office and catch up on Email while relaxing on the beach.

More bad news for HP TouchPad owners - TouchDroid project sabotaged

After the recent HP TouchPad US$99 (€69) sale that swarmed the market with the webOS tablet, a couple of big changes happened.

Firstly, the HP TouchPad became more successful than it ever was before, making it to the top of Amazon's Movers & Shakers list.
This fame also attracted bad attention as when more buyers began to use their HP TouchPad units and visit popular video site Hulu, it was eventually blocked.

Well, there is now more bad new for recent HP TouchPad buyers.

The recent US$99 sale which was commissioned by HP themselves was to clear out the remaining TouchPad inventory they had given that the tablet was being discontinued.

In fact, webOS itself was being decommissioned as HP didn't plan on building anymore for it.

Tablet shipments to reach 250 million by 2017 - report

Tablet shipments are set to explode in the coming years, a new study from research firm In-Stat has found.

According to the company's estimates, worldwide tablet shipments will approach 250 million units in 2017.
The firm says Apple iOS and Google Android mobile Operating Systems (OS) will secure over 90% of the tablet space between them, while Microsoft's Windows will come in a "distant third."

If In-Stat's shipments numbers turn out to be accurate, it would make for significant growth in the tablet market.
Earlier this year, DigiTimes cited market watchers who claimed iPad shipments will reach between 35 million and 36 million this year.
Android tablet shipments, those market observers claim, will hit about 19 to 20 million this year.

You might soon able to run Android on your TouchPad

First of all, we would like to say RIP, webOS.

You had no chance.

If you haven’t heard by now, HP has decided to kill off their webOS hardware business, meaning that they will discontinue the TouchPad tablet and the Palm Pre and Pixie phones.

But this post is not about that. 

HP has decided to get rid of their remaining inventory of TouchPad tablets, and to do so, they lowered the price of the 16GB model to US$99 (€69) and the 32GB model to US$149 (€104).
These things were selling like hotcakes. Online and at brick and mortar location.

For US$99, the TouchPad has excellent hardware!

HP is now selling the TouchPad webOS tablet for a ridiculously low price

On Thursday, HP announced that it was dropping its tablet and smartphone lines.

While at first that sounded like a complete dump of its webOS smartphone platform, it turns out that it's not necessarily the case.
It should be noted that the odds are still pretty small that HP will be able to "save" webOS, which it acquired during the acquisition of the late, lamented Palm.
What is definitely gone for good is the HP TouchPad product.

Beginning today 20th August 2011, HP will be reducing the price of the TouchPad to bargain basement prices.

The 32GB HP TouchPad will sell for US$149 (€104), while the 16GB model will sell for US$99 (€69).

If played right, Microsoft could win big from Google/Motorola and HP/TouchPad recent news

In the space of four days, Google may have effectively taken Android "private" and HP seems to have euthanized webOS in public.
It's really hard to believe all of this is happening.

But we can at least have a go at understanding what it means and what might, or might not, come next for Microsoft as a result.

Hello Moto
On Monday, Google announced its intention to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings, the "baby Moto" that makes mobile handsets, tablets and even set top boxes.
Google apparently did this to bulk up its patent portfolio, and thus a credible deterrent against companies suing manufacturers of Android devices for patent infringement.

The end of TouchPad and Pre smartphones might be an opportunity for 'independent' manufacturers

Hewlett-Packard (HP) announcement on Thursday to stop making tablets and Pre smartphones based on webOS surprised many analysts, who said the company buckled under the pressure of Apple's momentum and growing support for Google's Android.

HP announced it would stop selling webOS devices, including the TouchPad tablet and smartphones, as it looks to transform its operations to focus on enterprises.
HP plans to concentrate on its enterprise and printer businesses and sell or spin off its Personal Systems Group (PSG), which is responsible for sales of the PCs and webOS devices.

However, the company said it would look for ways to use and "optimize" the webOS platform, including licensing it to hardware makers.