Box.net launches apps for Android, BlackBerry PlayBook, HTML5

When a business wants to store or share documents in the cloud, Box.net wants to be the first firm companies go to to make that happen.

With that in mind, Box.net launched new apps on Thursday for Google's Android mobile OS, Research In Motion's BlackBerry Playbook (which runs on a RIM-built operating system called QNX) and a new HTML5 Web app accessible on any smart phone or tablet.

The Palo Alto, Calif., start-up has been able to gain more than 1 million mobile users with an iOS app, integration into HP's WebOS as the default cloud storage method, and its Box.net website, but that's not enough, said Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of the company.

"Since we're an enterprise-focused company, we've been working all year on making sure we hit every platform an enterprise might need and now we're able to make that happen," Levie said in an interview. "We've seen a 600% increase in enterprise sales on the mobile side this year. And that's because there are a lot of consumer cloud options which are perfectly fine being constrained to one platform or another, but for businesses, you need to have that flexibility, and nobody else is offering what we're now offering."

The PlayBook app is Box.net's first native app for any BlackBerry platform, while the company's new Android app, which works on both phones and tablets, replaces an older Android app designed only for phones.

One native app missing so far is one for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS. Users of that platform will have to rely on Box.net's HTML5 Web app, which Levie says offers all the same features of the native apps but can be accessed through any mobile device's Web browser at m.box.net.

Levie pointed to Proctor & Gamble's decision to use Box for its business as an example of how important it is for a company such as his to be available on the multitude of mobile devices in the marketplace.

"Procter & Gamble deployed about 18,000 users on Box, and the driver for that was being able to get to content on mobile platforms," he said. "Today, there are effectively five competing platforms that are all powerful, can all access content, can all access and manage contacts and email. And now we are available on all those platforms, and with HTML5, we have a standard across all platforms."

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Image: A screenshot of Box.net's Android app on a tablet running Android Honeycomb. Credit: Box.net

HP TouchPad gets permanent $100 price cut

Hewlett-Packard dropped the price of its HP TouchPad tablet on Wednesday, bringing the price $100 lower than the Apple iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The move follows a temporary weekend promotion that knocked $100 off the TouchPad's price, which in HP's eyes seems to have gone over well with consumers.

"Despite the very short runway, we were pleased with customer response and, as a result, have made the decision to implement a $100 price drop on the U.S. list price of the HP TouchPad, enabling both HP and our channel partners to be even more price competitive in the marketplace," said Stephen DiFranco, HP's senior vice president of personal systems.

The new, lower price of the TouchPad is $399.99 for a 16-gigabyte model and $499.99 for the 32-gigabyte model.

DiFranco offered no word on how the lower price will affect the planned 4G version of the tablet, which doesn't yet have a release date but is available for pre-order from Amazon at a price of $699.99 with 32 gigabytes of memory.

For those who purchased a TouchPad before this weekend's promotion or the permanent price drop, HP is offering a $50 voucher for apps in HP's App Catalog.

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Photo: The HP TouchPad tablet computer. Credit: Armand Emamdjomeh / Los Angeles Times

Amazon.com taking pre-orders for HP TouchPad 4G, $700

Amazon.com has begun taking pre-orders for Hewlett-Packard's HP TouchPad 4G tablet.

According to Amazon's listing, $700 will get you the 4G-capable tablet with 32 gigabytes of memory built in and no contract with a wireless carrier (although such a data plan would be needed to connect to 4G networks).

The price, listed as $699.99, puts the 4G version of the TouchPad $100 more than Wi-Fi only version of the 32-gigabyte device, which is a pretty standard price bump for tablets and the same increase for Wi-Fi to 3G Apple iPads and other competitors.

Interestingly, HP seems to be playing around with the idea of lowering the price of the Wi-Fi-only TouchPad, which may be an indication of slower-than-anticipated sales so far. HP hasn't officially cut the price on the TouchPad yet, but it is offering a $50 rebate to early adopters of the TouchPad and also introduced a $50 HP WebOS App Catalog credit to those who bought a TouchPad between its July 1 launch date and Aug. 4.

Aside from being able to connect to 4G cellular networks, from AT&T and possibly wireless providers, the TouchPad 4G is the same as its Wi-Fi-only brother, with a 9.7-inch touchscreen and an iPad-matching 1024-by-768 pixel resolution.

With all that in mind, it's not unlikely that HP might roll out similar incentives to get the 4G model of its tablet into consumer hands.

HP has a lot riding on WebOS, basically buying the smart-phone maker Palm so it could buy WebOS in a $1.2-billion takeover last year. The consumer electronics giant is also reportedly exploring the possibility of licensing out WebOS to other hardware manufactures in an effort to boost the platform as a rival to Apple's iOS and Google's Android, currently the two dominant mobile operating systems.

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Image: A screenshot of the HP TouchPad 4G tablet on Amazon.com. Credit: Amazon.com

Android top mobile OS in U.S., but Apple iPhone is most popular phone

Google's Android operating system continued its dominance of the U.S. smart-phone market in June, but it was Apple and its ever popular iPhone that took the top spot among actual phones sold, according to new data from the Nielsen research group.

The Android OS powered 39% of smart phones in the U.S. last month, while Apple's iOS landed in second place with 28% and Research In Motion's Blackberry phones fell 1% from May to a 20% share of the market in third place, Nielsen said.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS had a 9% share of the market in June, while HP webOS accounted for 2%, as did Nokia's Symbian.

In May, Nielsen's findings pegged Android at a 38% share, with Apple at a 27% share.

"However, because Apple is the only company manufacturing smartphones with the iOS operating system, it is clearly the top smartphone manufacturer in the United States," Nielsen said.

The Taiwanese company HTC was responsible for 14% of the U.S. smart-phone market with its Android phones and an additional 6% with its Windows Phone 7 handsets, Nielsen said. That combined 20% share of the overall U.S. smart-phone market, leaves HTC tied for second place in with RIM.

Motorola's Android devices are owned by 11% of smart-phone users in the U.S., while Samsung's Android devices are used by 8% of consumers and its Windows Phone 7 devices take a 2% share, Nielsen said.

Check out Nielsen's June data as presented in its graphic below.

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Photo: A customer at an Apple store holds an iPhone in New York on April 28. Credit: Richard Drew / Associated Press

Hands on with the HP TouchPad and WebOS [Video]

Hewlett-Packard, the world's leading computer manufacturer, has officially entered the consumer tablet game with the release of its HP TouchPad.

After two generations of Apple's iPad and dozens of tablets from other PC and consumer electronics makers, running on Google's Android software, HP hit the scene last week with the TouchPad running WebOS -- the mobile operating system developed by Palm, which HP took over for $1.2 billion more than a year ago.

The TouchPad is clearly gunning for the iPad with a same-size screen (9.7-inch display with a 1024-by-768 pixel resolution) and a price equal to the iPad ($499 for a 16-gigabyte wi-fi-only model and $599 for a 32-gigabyte wi-fi-only model). TouchPads running on 3G cellular networks, and maybe some other colors than black, are coming later in the year.

So how does the TouchPad stack up against the major players in Apple, Samsung and others? Check out our hands-on video below:

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Image: L.A. Times tech reporter Nathan Olivarez-Giles playing Angry Birds on the HP TouchPad. Credit: Armand Emamdjomeh/Los Angeles Times

William and Kate endorse London tech scene, play with HP TouchPad at L.A. event

If you were Britain, whom would you enlist to help promote London's up-and-coming answer to Silicon Valley?

Well how about the royal couple, William and Kate?

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge flew in from Canada to join a conference of venture investors and media executives in Beverly Hills on Friday evening, where the headline topic was how London's new "Tech City" could become a major technology center.

Photos: The Duke and Duchess in L.A.

Although the couple's arrival was the main event of the conference, put on by Variety, their contribution was a quiet one. Arriving to a panel on Tech City about 45 minutes after it had started, the couple took a seat on the stage among the panelists, in front of an audience of hundreds. That's where the action stopped, however: For the next 20 minutes, neither spoke nor was asked any questions by the moderator, "Freakonomics" producer Chad Troutwine. The result was something of an awkward tableau of the couple sitting and smiling while panelists talked about the British tech scene.

When the panel ended, the couple did a brief lap around the room, inspecting various technologies on display, including the HP TouchPad, on which Prince William Googled "Aston Villa" -- the Birmingham Football Club, to go to the team's home page. 

"I think they enjoyed the demonstration," said Michelle Price of Hewlett-Packard, who had loaded a slide show of the royal couple on the device in advance. "They seemed to like that."

As for Tech City, its boosters point out, it has grown from about 15 companies in 2008 to more than 500 today. The British government and prime minister have taken an active interest in promoting the area.

It's a nascent neighborhood in the east of London (Google map here), close to where the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held, and its supporters want it to gain a foothold in the tech world and attract top technology talent.

"The government's role is to try to facilitate it so that companies will come in and establish themselves there and flourish," said Andrew Lewis, the head of trade and investment at the British Consulate in Los Angeles.

Jay Samit, chief executive of Los Angeles online ad firm SocialVibe, said British officials were even monitoring tweets to spot companies considering a move to Europe.

"The second we tweeted that we were thinking of moving to Europe, the British government flew someone out from London to explain the advantages of Tech City," he said. 

Other panelists discussed the challenges that Tech City would face in competing with Silicon Valley.

"When you come to the Valley, it’s very clear that the talent Yahoo, Facebook and Google can attract really overshadows what’s possible in Europe," said Ankur Shah, co-founder of social media advertising firm Techlightenment. "It’ll be key to see in the coming years how the government can help in recruiting and retaining top talent."

Tim Cadogan, CEO of Pasadena online ad firm OpenX, highlighted what he saw as a cultural difference between Britain and the U.S. when it comes to entrepreneurship.

"In the U.S. it is fine to build a company and for it to blow up, and you learn the lessons from that and do a better job next time,"  said Cadogan, himself British. "In the U.K. it's still a little tougher -- when you go through that, you're looked at a little bit differently. And that [the U.S. approach] is an essential ingredient to a successful entrepreneurial climate."

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Photo: The royal couple try out HP's TouchPad and talk with HP's Michelle Price. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

HP reportedly talking with other manufacturers to make HP WebOS devices

Hewlett-Packard Co. wants its HP WebOS platform to be the next big smartphone and tablet operating system to rival Google's Android and Apple's iOS systems. And HP could end up licensing the software out to other hardware makers such as Samsung to try and make that happen.

"We are talking to a number of companies," HP's CEO, Leo Apotheker, told Bloomberg in a recent interview in Beijing.

One of the companies that HP has been in talks with about taking on WebOS is Samsung, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources.

Samsung currently makes phones and the Galaxy Tab line of tablets that run on Google's Android operating system, as well as laptops running Google's stripped-down ChromeOS.

Getting other consumer electronics makers on board with WebOS could help HP's chances of succeeding with the operating system it bought when it paid $1.2 billion in 2010 to take over the financially struggling Palm.

Palm now runs as a division of HP, working on WebOS products. But Apotheker and other HP execs didn't think enough of the brand they bought to keep Palm's name and logos around when designing its line of HP-built WebOS devices.

Apotheker was vague about HP's plans and didn't offer much detail on whom the company was talking to or what types of devices it is looking to get WebOS running on from outside manufacturers.

But Apotheker and HP have said in the past that the plan is to sell PCs with WebOS running alongside Microsoft's Windows, as well as its line of WebOS phones and tablets -- such as the Pre smartphones and the HP TouchPad, which debuts in stores Friday.

"I can share with you that a number of companies have expressed interest," Apotheker told Bloomberg. "We are continuing our conversations."

Apotheker refused to disclose any timeframes on getting WebOS on non-HP hardware, telling Bloomberg that "there is no time pressure to do this."

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Photo: Leo Apotheker, Hewlett-Packard's CEO, attends a media event Wednesday in Beijing. Credit: Keith Bedford/Bloomberg

HP’s Pivot magazine on TouchPad will showcase HP WebOS apps, developers

Hewlett-Packard's HP WebOS App Catalog won't have as many applications for sale as Apple's iOS or Google's Android Marketplace when the HP TouchPad hits retail shelves July 1.

But HP is hoping to bring some shine to what is there, help notable apps go unnoticed and also encourage developers in the process, by way of a monthly magazine called Pivot that will spotlight HP WebOS apps.

"Pivot will showcase a broad range of applications -- and the developers who create them -- by providing customers the freedom to explore based on their interests and lifestyles," HP said in a statement.

Aiding app discovery, and thereby downloads and apps sales, is a move to jump-start HP's app ecosytem against the market leaders in iOS and Android.

"We want our partners to experience WebOS as the growing platform of opportunity, and we're investing in new ways to help market their applications on our platform," said Richard Kerris, HP's vice president of WebOS worldwide developer relations.

Pivot will publish "original content by journalists and photographers affiliated with leading publications" and include "visually driven editorial pieces, columns from notable guest writers sharing their perspectives on digital culture, feature stories focused on applications around specific topics, and in-depth reviews," HP said.

The magazine is also looking to reach not just U.S. customers but also international WebOS users by being offered each month in English, French, German and Spanish.

The HP TouchPad, the first device that will run on WebOS 3.0, hits stores July 1, and will sell at an iPad-match price point of $499.99 for a 16-gigabyte, Wi-Fi-only model or $599.99 for a 32-gigabyte Wi-Fi-only model.

Britain, Ireland, France and Germany get the TouchPad on July 2, while Canada will land the new tablet July 15. HP said it will launch the device in Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain later in the year.

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Image: The first issue of Pivot on an HP TouchPad. Credit: Hewlett-Packard

HP TouchPad to hit stores on July 1, starting at $499.99

Hewlett-Packard's tablet, the HP TouchPad, is hitting stores on July 1.

The new tablet will run HP's WebOS operating system -- which was developed by Palm before that company was taken over by HP -- and will feature an iPad-matching 9.7-inch touchscreen.

The HP TouchPad going on sale next month will be the Wi-Fi version of new device. HP will also sell a 3G model through AT&T "later this summer," HP said in a statement on Thursday.

The device, which is HP's first consumer tablet to make it to market, will also land at retailers in the U.K., Ireland, France and Germany a few days after its July 1 U.S. release, and go on sale in Canada in mid-July, HP said. Other parts of the world will have to wait until later this year.

While the gadget's screen size lines up evenly with Apple's iPad, the HP TouchPad's price will too -- set at $499.99 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model or $599.99 for a 32GB Wi-Fi model. HP said it will begin taking pre-orders in North America and Europe starting June 19.

The HP TouchPad will feature a front-facing camera for video chats, or taking photos, but it won't have a camera on the back -- a spec that most competing tablets nowadays do have.

HP is pitching WebOS, which the company has said it will ship later this year on laptops as well, as the major reason a consumer would be interested in its tablet over the huge field of Google Android tablets or Apple's iPad.

"What makes HP TouchPad a compelling alternative to competing products is WebOS," Jon Rubinstein, the senior vice president and general manager of HP's Palm business unit, said in a statement. "The platform's unmatched features and flexibility will continue to differentiate HP products from the rest of the market for both personal and professional use."

HP is promising a "next-level multitasking experience," stereo speakers using the Dr. Dre-sponsored Beats Audio for "premium audio playback," and integration with HP's cloud services too.

Among those selling the HP TouchPad in the U.S. will be Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, Walmart, Sam's Club, OfficeMax, Amazon.com, Fry's Electronics and of course, HP itself, online.

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Photo: Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager of Hewlett-Packard's Palm business unit, holds the HP TouchPad tablet at the Uplinq conference in San Diego on June 1. Credit: David Maung/Bloomberg

Apple's iPhone passes RIM's BlackBerry for second place in U.S. smartphone market

Research in Motion's BlackBerry line fell to the third spot in the U.S. smartphone market in April as Apple's iPhone moved into the No. 2 position behind Google's Android phones, according to a new report.

BlackBerry phones have been the second-most-popular smartphone platform in the U.S. since January, according to research firm ComScore. RIM was in the top spot before that, but dethroned as the smartphone platform leader by Google's Android.

Over the three-month period ended April 30, Android nabbed a 36.4% share of the market, while the iPhone took a 26% share and RIM fell to third place with a 25.7% share, down from 30.4% in the three-month period ended Jan. 31, according to the ComScore report released Friday.

About 74.6 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three-month period ended in April, up 13% from the previous three-month period, ComScore said.

Behind Google, Apple and RIM comes Microsoft's Windows Phone handsets with a 6.7% share during the period ended in April, down from 8% during the previous period, and HP's Palm line of phones with a 2.6% share in the latest period, down from 3.2% in the previous period.

ComScore's report largely lines up with the market share split as determined by the Nielsen research firm, which also reported a top three of Android, iPhone and BlackBerry this week.

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Photo: Michael Lazaridis, president, co-chief executive and co-founder of Research in Motion, speaks at the BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, Fla., on May 3. Credit: Phelan M. Ebenhack / Bloomberg