Motorola's Webtop technology is an interesting idea that just never seemed to fully work out all its kinks. Now, it might never have a chance to: PhoneNews reports that Motorola plans to kill both Webtop and the Lapdock accessory in the coming weeks at Google's behest. PhoneNews' sources corroborate an Ubergizmo report from earlier this week that claimed the Lapdock 100 was discontinued and on sale for just $50 at Verizon stores.
Motorola's Webtop technology allowed certain powerful smartphones to act as the brains of a computer; when you connected the phones to the Lapdock accessory, the combination functioned as a working laptop. Early versions ran a neutered form of Linux, while Webtop 3.0 introduced the ability to run full-screen Android apps.
The news isn't entirely surprising: many of Motorola's newer phones lacked Webtop capabilities, including the Atrix HD and the recently updated Razr lineup. Also, Webtop idea competes with the Chrome OS and its default browser was Firefox, not Chrome -- two factors that wouldn't win the technology any fans on the Google campus.
While Motorola may have thrown in the towel on using a smartphone to power a PC, the makers of the popular (for Linux) Ubuntu distribution are working hard to create a similar system. Ubuntu for Android takes advantage of the two operating system's shared open-source background to let your phone work normally during everyday use, but double as a fully working Ubuntu desktop when hooked up to a docking station. The software's there, but there's one major problem: the hardware itself isn't actually available yet.
Get a daily look at what’s developing in science and technology throughout the world.