HP to Spread Palm WebOS Across Netbook and Tablet PCs

Building on its acquisition of Palm, HP will extend its WebOS operating system software from smartphones across a range of products including netbook and tablet PCs, Palm Senior Product Manager Timothy Pettitt told us at Showstoppers in New York.

Much of the new WebOS 2.0 software being spread across Palm Pixi, Pre Plus and Pre 2 smartphones was developed and being tested when HP bought Palm, Pettitt said. HP kept much of Palm’s R&D and product development staff with a charter to build software that could be used across a range of devices, Pettitt said. HP is expected to ship a tablet PC in 2011.

"We're trying to keep the same developer environment,” so those creating software for a Palm smartphone can also work on tablets and netbooks, Pettitt said. “We're trying to reach a variety of devices from a single development. If you are a developer you don’t want to re-code and rework your assets for each. We can build WebOS for multiple formats."

Armed with added financial resources, there’s “nothing we will take off the table” in developing WebOS-based products, Pettitt said. “As HP, we have more opportunities we can look at,” Pettitt said. WebOS, unveiled at the 2009 CES, has undergone 13 software updates since then, the most recent being 2.0, released in October.

The arrival of WebOS 2.0 coincided with HP’s delivery of the Palm Pre 2, which upgraded to a Texas Instruments 1 GHz OMAP processor from the 500 MHz version found in the Palm Pre Plus. It also added a five-megapixel camera, up from three megapixels in the earlier model, and continued with an 1,100-milliampere battery and 16 GB storage capacity, 1 GB for the operating software and applications. The phone has 5.5 hours talk time on a charge, 350 hours of standby. It also has 512 MB RAM. The Pre 2 also switched a Corning Gorilla Glass 3.1-inch touchscreen LCD with 320x480 resolution. Pre 2 launched sales at Vodafone France Oct. 20 and is expected to arrive Nov. 9 at Rogers Communications in Canada. Verizon also is expected to carry Pre 2 in the coming weeks, Palm officials said. Foxconn is building Pre 2 for HP, industry officials said.

Pre 2 has a slide-out keyboard, built-in GPS, microUSB connector and 802.11 b/g WiFi. The smartphone also features HP Synergy that automatically brings together information from multiple sources and gathers contact and calendar information from Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft Office Outlook and others. It also has universal search that includes Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia and Twitter. And the smartphone is slightly heavier than the Pre Plus, 5.1 versus 4.89 ounces, and longer, at 3.96 inches against 3 inches. Pre 2 will be available to developers in a UMTS unlocked version.

Showstoppers Notebook

BitTorrent has hired 15 to 20 people in the past four months as it gears up to raise its profile both with CE manufacturers and consumers, said Jordy Berson, who recently joined the company’s San Francisco office as director of product management. Among the peer-to-peer software company’s major initiatives is an application developer program. Eleven Javascript-based apps, largely developed by BitTorrent, have been released, including Virus Guard and TuneUp, which is designed to clean up mislabeled songs on a user’s playlist, Berson said. Among the independently developed apps is Zulu Music, which allows users to download and discover new music artists via the Jamendo application programming interface. BitTorrent also introduced a Featured Artist program, which allows musicians and filmmakers to submit work for consideration and use in special promotions, Berson said. The program has attracted the musician Paz, as well as Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano, who co-directed the 2009 film The Yes Men Fix the World. BitTorrent also released an alpha version of its Linux-based uTorrent server software, intended for users seeking a lightweight BitTorrent client shorn of the complexity of the graphical user interface, company officials said. BitTorrent also is working on an Android version of its software, but the timing of its release hasn’t been set, Berson said. “Part of what we are doing with applications and other programs is trying to change our reputation,” Berson said. “We have nothing to do with the content out there, but we are the technology. By stepping in and having a hand in the content we think we can transform live streaming and make people know us for a different reason” other than pirated content. BitTorrent isn’t likely to revive its device partners program, which once included D-Link network area storage devices, Berson said. But the company is courting CE manufacturers, he said. “They want to see that we have the usership, brand and that we are legitimate,” Berson said. “We want to show people it wasn’t whether we were legitimate or not, but that there are ways to use our product to get premium content.” BitTorrent gets most of its revenue from downloads of its Ask toolbar, but it’s considering sales avenues including advertising, Berson said.