Here is a roundup of the latest news this week from the technology world.
WebOS goes open source in September
HP has announced their operating system WebOS will become open source in September 2012 after the company set out the release time frame. The operating system was previously developed and owned by Palm and was given a reprieve last month after deciding to let the software go open source rather than stopping it all together.
The source code will be released in September. Developers can now work with the code as they can build apps with the launch of the Enyo 2.0 tool. This tool enables developers to create for WebOS, which will also be compatible with Android, iOS devices and web browsers such as Google and Firefox.
Bill Veghte, HP's executive vice president and chief strategy officer said, "HP is bringing the innovation of the webOS platform to the open source community. This is a decisive step toward meeting our goal of accelerating the platform's development and ensuring that its benefits will be delivered to the entire ecosystem of web applications.”
HP bought WebOS from Palm back in April 2010 for $1.2 billion but its plans to be a rival to Android and iOS ended when the Pre 3 and TouchPad tablet did not take off.
Android increases its tablet market share
Research carried out by Strategy Analytics showed that the Android OS share in the tablet market has grown as Apple’s share fell in the last three months of 2011 from 68% to 58%. Android has 39% of the market share, which is up from 29% in the previous year. Microsoft share in the market was 1.5%.
26.8 million tablets were shipped in the last quarter, which is up from 10.7 million the previous year. Peter King of Strategy Analytics said, "Demand for tablets among consumer, business and education users remains strong."
There was 15.4 million Apple iPads that were shipped in the last three months of 2011. Android shipped 10.5 million tablets. The total shipments for tablets in 2011 stood at 66.9 million. Android is one of most-used operating systems in the smartphone market but recent figures imply that Apple have now overtaken Android in the US.
Figures from Kantar Worldpanel shows that Apple had 44.9% of the US market in the last three months of 2011 compared with Android at 44.8%. Last month saw the 10 billionth app to be downloaded from the Android Market
Intel snaps up 190 Real Networks patents
Intel has brought 190 patents and 170 patents applications from Real Networks that has set the company back $120 million (76.5 million). Intel have brought these patents as they say they will work well with its expanding mobile product lines.
The company also said that these patents will allow them to "continue to offer richer experiences and innovative solutions to end users across a wide spectrum of devices, including through Ultrabook devices, smartphones and digital media."
As part of the deal, Real Networks will still have access to some of the patents in its current and future digital music products. Intel have attempted to boost their patent portfolio in order to fend off any legal action over intellectual property rights.
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Other News:
BBC News for Android tablets finally begins broadcasting
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/44172/bbc-news-for-android-tablets
IBM and HTC combine to bring Android to businesses
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/ibm-and-htc-combine-to-bring-android-to-businesses-1057533
HTC to scale back output to focus on few core handsets
http://www.t3.com/news/htc-to-scale-back-output-to-focus-on-few-core-handsets