Euro based NDrive, makers of the popular GPS navigation app for mobile devices, has sent out an email to its beta testers this morning explaining it will be putting further development and future releases of NDrive for webOS on hold, explaining it can no longer "focus on a dormant ecosystem." It goes on to say it can no longer dedicate money and resources on further development until they have proof that webOS will be kept alive - there's a pretty good chance that won't happen any time soon.
NDrive was first demoed on a Palm Pre Plus during the 2011 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. At the time, it featured integration with popular social networks and Foursquare. News of a version release for the HP Pre 3 came later in the year via a tweet sent out by the company.
The full text of the email is below:
Dear Beta Tester,
As you all know, HP has cut development of webOS hardware like the Pre and
TouchPad, effectively taking away the only home the mobile operating system
has. With nothing else to run on and no other companies using it, the OS
will linger on ice unless and until a buyer or licensee comes along.
Killing each and every product that uses a particular OS isn't a literal
death sentence and HP may want to license it out. But unless that happens,
webOS will effectively be lying dormant, and an operating system can start
to decompose real fast when it's sitting still, especially in such a
viciously competitive market. Developers stop building apps, consumers stop
paying attention, and the ones who bought devices before they were
de-shelved get bitter because firmware improvements, bug fixes and new
software stop coming.
NDrive, being a relatively small software house cannot focus on a dormant
ecosystem and therefore we've decided to put on-hold any development and
releases on webOS. Although we do believe Palm first, and HP after, have
done a great job on differentiating this ecosystem from the leading Android
and iOS, we cannot afford to loose resources, time and money on further
developments until we have proofs the OS will be kept alive and flourish.
We do appreciate and thank you all your efforts and patience on testing our
software and we do expect your understanding on this position.
Best Regards,
NDrive Team
Credits: webOSroundup, thanks Patrick!
