TechieGroups

DURING AN AUDIENCE Q&A session after Meg Whitman’s Global Partner Conference (GPC) speech in Las Vegas last week, one reseller took to the microphone to share his thoughts on the current and former HP CEOs.

He explained that after last year’s GPC, when he returned to the office and was asked by customers and employees his views on then CEO Leo Apotheker, “he was proved right”. He didn’t need to go into detail on his feedback, but it was clearly negative, supported by the removal of Apotheker late last year.

But this year, he said, when he returns to the office and is asked the same question about HP’s new CEO Whitman he’ll have only one thing to say: “She rocks!”

This received a hearty round of applause – one of several spontaneous outbursts of clapping that morning during Whitman’s speech. Now it could be that all the love in the room was more down to the fact that this was a bunch of channel partners, known for their more outspoken and lively demeanours compared to the usual crowd of IT managers gathered at IT conferences, rather than a genuine indication of Whitman’s success so far at the company.

However, even at the media event after the keynote, the gathered press, including me – normally known for a more cynical outlook – shared in enthusiasm for HP’s new CEO.

So what was the reason for this optimism? For me a few things stood out as to why Whitman will prove to be a great leader for HP.

First off is her ability to make quick decisions and back them up once she’s decided. WebOS was much unloved under Apotheker, and the unsuccessful Touchpad was late to market and didn’t offer anything spectacular compared to the existing models from Apple, Samsung and all. By open sourcing the mobile operating system, at least HP is putting WebOS in a position where it could attract external innovation and development, rather than leaving it to rot in HP’s dungeons.

Whether Whitman’s bold statement that WebOS can start competing with Apple’s IOS and Google’s Android, which she views as a closed system and soon-to-be closed system, respectively, comes to anything remains to be seen. HP will have to invent a whole new reason for having a smartphone or tablet to dislodge the incumbents. But what a relief that HP has given WebOS a future and at least the potential to succeed.

ADVERTISING BROKER Google seems to have given its blessing for Motorola to forge ahead with a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple.

Motorola Mobility, which is set to become part of Google, has alleged Apple infringed six patents with its Iphone 4S. The patents include one which is entitled “Receiver having concealed external antenna”, something that could describe pretty much every mobile phone on sale today.

Apple and Motorola have had prior legal clashes with the two firms already locked in a bitter patent battle that is set to reach trial later this year. Motorola had initially tried to get patent claims against the latest Iphone 4S added to that lawsuit, however the judge rejected that, offering Motorola the chance to file another lawsuit. At this point it is not clear if, or when, those latest claims will end up in court.

According to patents gadfly Florian Mueller, Motorola’s actions must have had Google’s blessing due to the merger agreement signed by the two firms. Mueller cited that the agreement does not allow Motorola to “assert any Intellectual Property Right in any new Action” without Google’s permission.

Google’s thumbs up to Motorola is the surest sign yet that Apple and Google will eventually end up fighting each other rather than using handset makers as their pawns. µ

MOBILE OPERATOR O2 is being accused of sending mobile phone numbers to every web site visited on its network.

It has come to light that O2 is including full phone numbers in plain text in the HTTP headers that get sent when a user visits a web site. There is nothing stopping the owners of the web site from collecting your phone numbers from these headers.

Lewis Peckover posted about the issue and said, “If you’re on O2′s UK mobile network (not ADSL), you’ll (probably) see a line beginning with x-up-calling-line-id – followed by your mobile phone number in plain text.”

We contacted O2, which told us it’s investigating the problem. It is frantically replying to people on Twitter with a message like this:

@paulwalk We’re investigating this with our internal teams, and will come back with more as soon as possible

— O2 in the UK (@O2) January 25, 2012

Of course not all web site owners will use this information but in the wrong hands it could easily be used to cause O2 customers some problems. It’s unclear whether it’s just O2 doing this or other networks as well.

Peckover added, “To answer some questions and responses I’ve seen – no, it’s not anything client-side. O2 seem to be transparently proxying HTTP traffic and inserting this header.” µ

KOREAN ELECTRONICS GIANT Samsung has offered a proposal to fruit themed toy seller Apple to resolve their patent dispute in Australia, a Sydney court has heard.

According to Bloomberg, Apple lawyer Steven Burley said the cappuccino company will need time to consider the proposal, which relates to a patent on touchscreen technology. He mentioned no details about what the proposal contains.

Samsung agreed this week to withdraw two other features from the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet that allegedly infringes some of Apple’s patents.

Samsung had earlier agreed to hold off selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia while the judge rules on Apple’s request for an injunction barring the sale of the tablets. However the judge said she couldn’t give a time frame for her decision on the injunction.

The companies also failed to settle their arguments today as scheduled, so the hearing will resume on 4 October, which is strangely the same day as the Iphone 5 launch.

These two companies have so many patent lawsuits going on around the world that frankly, we’ve lost count. Samsung has reportedly filed a counter-claim in Australia, based on 3G mobile telecoms patents it holds.

Apple has already won injunctions preventing Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab tablet in a number of regions as the two firms continue their world spanning patent battle. µ