Based on the reporting over at Ars Technica, it looks like the KDE folks have decided to abandon KHTML and instead go with the much more advanced tine of the fork, Apple's Webkit. This is apparently not "Apple and KDE decide to merge efforts" but more like "KDE abandons KHTML and moves over to Apple's Webkit." I suppose we'll have to wait and see, but it sure sounds like they're ceding leadership that was once KDEs over to Apple.
For those who haven't followed this closely, here's a bit of history. A few years back, Apple forked KDE's KHTML code, creating a tine called Webkit. Because Apple invested heavily in their tine of the fork, Webkit has become the better codebase. So now KDE is abandoning their KHTML project and becoming a consumer (and presumably some kind of contributor to) Apple's Webkit.
I guess you could call that unforking since there will be one fewer tine. Again, from Ars, "While there are still a few reservations, the consensus is to develop a Webkit KPart for embedding into Konqueror at the earliest opportunity and to take a more active role in the development of Webkit itself."
There's little doubt that Apple's Webkit is a more advanced and capable codebase with much more momentum than KDE's KHTML. The more important questions that arise now are around governance and leadership. Before Apple forked KHTML, KDE, an Open Source project with a well established reputation, was the primary producer of KHTML and controlled its direction through governance and leadership. Going forward, KDE will now be consumers of Apple's Webkit and subject to the governance and leadership of the Apple team.
It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
