If I see a project is supported by the Apache Foundation I consider it to be a more serious undertaking than I otherwise would.
There are no end of frameworks and applications that are released as open source and then later abandoned (which is as it should be), the ASF imprimatur is a decent indication that the project will be around a while.
Open source projects vary in 'openness', especially with the recent popularity of companies releasing open source products but strictly controlling them, which makes them less attractive for 3rd parties to depend on.
The Apache Foundation goes to a lot of work to make sure that open source project operate in a certain spirit, they encourage to have a diverse set of committers (so they arent all from one company), they also provide some insurance on the legal side of things
It sounds like the legal insurance may be one of the bigger drivers in this instance. I find it rather maddening that a clothing chain has problems with the PhoneGap name - there's absolutely no chance of consumer confusion here.
I think this will be generally great for the PhoneGap community, but I can't say I like the name Apache Device Bridge. There has got to be something better than that. Off the top of my head, how about "Apache Web Bridge"?
That's a great news, and it will be very beneficial for both PhoneGap open source framework and ASF Foundation. Clear governance rules in ASF foundation will definitely be stimulative for other developers to participate.
What's wrong with Apache Mobile?