HTML5 OS is set to disrupt platform lock-in

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Canada-based startup founded in November 2010 arrived at TechCrunch Disrupt last week to debut its "HTML5 operating system" called Carbyn. To get this system, there is nothing to install; you use your browser and you log in to Carbyn and you're on your way. Beyond being an app, beyond being a web store, it is described by its founders as an operating system that happens to be app-focused. "It means you can get it on any device, they add, and "it means buying the cheapest tablet that gets you online so that you can get everything you want through your browser."

Jaafer Haidar and Jason Miller of Carbyn, whose mantra is "Go ahead. Just operate," showed their creation, featuring a cross-platform experience, using both the Apple iPad and Blackberry Playbook in the Disrupt show demo. Smartphone functionalty is planned some time in the future.

Carbyn enables consumers to get all the apps they enjoy in one destination, on any device, whether iPad, Blackberry Playbook, Android or others. For companies developing HTML5 applications, Carbyn is aiming to provide a wide-reaching distribution platform, according to Haidar, CEO and co-founder.

As for apps, once you have Carbyn, you are able to pin any app to the main screen. You get a familiar-looking panel of available applications. Existing HTML5 apps are easily portable to the Carbyn system, in less than half an hour, according to Carbyn, and specialist apps can be created from scratch from a custom SDK.

Features of Carbyn also include multitasking capabilities and app-to-app communications. In other words, applications can talk to one another."We're exposing an underlying file system messaging layer so that we have app to app communication. One app can tell, if it's a phone app, let's say, Skype can tell the music app, 'hey, stop playing I'm getting a call,'" said Haidar.

Also noted was how developers can port their HTML5 applications to Carbyn with litte effort. In fact, attracting developers was one of three goals that Haidar and Miller had in appearing at the show. Partnering with developers to tailor apps for Carbyn will be important to Carbyn's growth. The second goal was getting the word out. "You don't have to download anything, just go to the web site...we want to go nuts with this," Haidar said in an interview at the show. The third was attracting money. Haidar said the team had been bootstrapping the startup since its founding and was now seeking funding.

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