HP Launches Palm-Powered Tablets Based Upon It's Own webOS System

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HP Launches Palm-Powered Tablets Based Upon It's Own webOS System [bbc.co.uk]

Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world's biggest technology company, is making a major play for the multi-billion dollar mobile market with a slew of products based on its own operating system.

At an event in San Francisco, the company announced two new phones and a long-awaited tablet computer.

HP's new TouchPad tablet will compete against Apple's iPad, Google's Android-powered machines and RIM's Playbook.

The TouchPad is based on the webOS operating system.

[Harry]

Seen all this gear in Barcelona. Hot stuff. Veer is way cool.

[wheel]

HP's new TouchPad tablet will compete against Apple's iPad, Google's Android-powered machines and RIM's Playbook.

No it won't.

[incrediBILL]

Too little, too late, no apps, no hope.

What developers, without HP funding them, will be crazy enough to jump on this dark horse platform?

[Harry]

Of course, you're aware that webOS has more games than Android? Game has not been played yet. They can pull it off and they will. webOS is coming to the PC. Then we will see who has the most users...

Also saw the Xoom. That's one failure waiting to happen. Galaxy Tab was a better deal.

p.s. I like when people feel so threatened and need to bash out a competitor. From the reading I've done on the Tech sites, unless HP fails to execute, people tech pundits don't see how this could fail. You guys care to tell in detail why you seem to know better then tech pundits?

[incrediBILL]

you're aware that webOS has more games than Android?

irrelevant.

It doesn't have the sheer numbers of user, developers or mission critical apps.

When they get Google Navigation [google.com], then we can talk about it.

It's those kinds of mission critical apps that make a phone platform, not games.

p.s. Not lashing out. Palm-pre was in my buying cycle when I first went looking for a smart phone. It fell miserably short in both hardware and software, it was down to iPhone and Android. iPhone was locked to AT&T which I had previously left for bad service. One option left, Android, millions have followed for the same reason. I'm now tied into mission critical software and services, much like everyone else, that the Palm platform doesn't have. Too little. Too late. Tech pundits just want the free lunch HP feeds them.

[Harry]

Irrelevant.

We've had this debate before. I know you're a fandroid although you won't admit to it. I know you won't give in until you get the last word. I won't play this game for long with you. The tablet market is taking off NOW. Apple has the lead. But the market has not solidified. My bet is on the vertical integrated solutions, like the Playbook, the iPad and the Touchpad, not on the fragmented solutions from a myriad of Android vendors that compete against each other and do not offer the user a solid and integrated ecosystem. Sure, all these OEMs run Android, but each is competing and undercutting the next guy. For example, nothing in the Atrix ecosystem is compatible with Samsung's line. Then you get the oddballs like Kyocera and their double screen offering. I'm not worried about HP because they have something few other vendors have - distribution and the scale to fight for the parts needed for their products and the ability to take a loss the first year. Motorola has already had to price its Xoom tablet out of reach of the average potential Xoom buyer because it can't afford to leverage supply discounts like Apple, HP or Samsung.

Motorola cannot get its Xoom in Walmart, Price Club, Target et all. It relies on Verizon alone. HP can command retail space on all the major electronics chain and sell units directly to enterprises as parts of bundles that LG will never be able to match. Only Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle have that kind of traction.

Games are not irrelevant. If they were, Sony-Ericson would not be basing their own Android ecosystem on the Playstation-based Experia. Microsoft would not be touting X-Box integration with WP7. iOS took off first because of games.

The mission critical apps you're describing are already there, including the integrated Cisco security architecture and full exchange server compatibility that Android and iOS are still dreaming they had.

And just so you know a navigation app is currently in beta for webOS 2.0

[incrediBILL]

fragmented solutions from a myriad of Android vendors

Same old lame argument.

Those are called choices, the same choices that led to the PC dominating over the one-size-fits-all Apple solutions of yester-year, same thing today.

With choices I can get a big screen, small screen, KEYBOARD (not on iPhone), and even 4G!

Has nothing to do with Android, it has to do with filling marketing niches and HP isn't known for that and they're way late to the current game, same as the Win7 phones.

FWIW, I actually would've preferred an iPhone, but Apple and their infinite wisdom of partnering with AT&T is what sent me and others elsewhere. Then they "opened" the platform to Verizon, fail, it's not that good where I live, could get that fail with AT&T.

full exchange server compatibility

Who wants that ancient MS crap?

My email is in the cloud, I can access it from any device seamlessly.

[Harry]

You don't understand.

It's not about YOU.

You're confusing an ecosystem with what you call one size fits all. Apple is not one size at all. It's got a variety of form factors that all work well with each other based on the iTunes core. PCs, Mac, iPod Nanos, iPod Touch, iPhones, iPads, they all connect and are part of the same ecosystem. That is more important than several form factors as the market has demonstrated repeatedly with Apple's success.

YOU as a geek enjoy the so called choices (which really are made by cellular vendors and manufacturers, not end users). But these various options don't create a healthy ecosystem. Besides the Google apps, there is nothing common to all these devices. Some, are not even allowed to use Goggle apps.

You seem to think that the average joe wants what YOU as a techhead wants. They don't. People who buy iOS devices just want something that works. They don't want to bother with updates, cyogen, roms, homebrew, patches and all that stuff. All they want to do is get on with their lives. You want to thinker, they don't. Android is good for you, but it's not good for the average user.

Say what you will about Microsoft Exchange, but enterprises care about it. Again, it's not about YOU, it's about the market and the average user/company and THEIR needs. Not yours.

Only Sony has shown any interest with sharing their work on Android with other vendors, but for how long? Sony is not known as the most open vendor. Motorola spends more time making sure people can't hack their kernels than actually contribute to the larger Android ecosystem.

HTC has never contributed a single advancement on Android that benefited other makers.

It's the ecosystem that matters. Even Microsoft is recognizing this and making sure that its phones and its alliance with Nokia creates the core of a viable platform where all participants an gain.

[incrediBILL]

YOU don't understand, it's NOT ABOUT ME!

Try debating the technology and not try to make it personal next time, OK?

I'm just reporting the facts that the so-called 'fragmented market' is full of choices including affordable prices. I don't need a physical keyboard on my phone or tablet, nor do I want a really small phone, nor do I care if it has a forward facing camera for Skype or web cam, nor do I want to pay extra for 4G which is barely available locally. I don't care about most of those choices but apparently consumers want them because they're buying them in droves.


This ZD-NET article [zdnet.com] says about the same as I do in the CONS dept:

Cons:

* The TouchPad is still months away.
* It’s unclear whether developers will line up to create apps.
* There will be plenty of TouchPad alternatives available and it’s doubtful consumers will wait.

My only point was HP is coming in very late to a crowded game and I'd put my bets on the new Windows 7/8 devices as the #3 upcoming platform before HP, unless HP prices it real aggressively unlike their expensive HP Slate flop weighing in at $799.

Besides, almost all of my non-programming non-nerd friends are buying Androids and even the new Nook, they must want to tinker and hack. Right.

Say what you will about Microsoft Exchange, but enterprises care about it.

How true. From what I hear from a lot of my corporate friends, most of their IT guys permit Blackberries only on their networks and can't get the IT guys to help configure any other brand. Good luck with that!

[Sierra_Dad]

I, too, wonder about the Windows 7+ tablets.

The reasons is, besides APPs, I care about APPLICATIONs.

Is WebOs, Android, or Ipad, going to run Visual Studio, or Illustrator, or Eclipse IDE?

I'm sure there are people who can do their entire job on an iPad or other tablet, but there are also many who have it as a luxury item, to take notes at a conference and communicate with the people in their company doing the real work - at a PC.

It's not about me either, but I may not be the only one. Laptop sales were still great last year, EVEN with the iPad available.

Windows Tablets would have to take less than a quarter of the volume of laptops to be a significant player.

If Microsoft is doing something wrong now for tablets, perhaps they could start doing it right. Maybe windows applications will become more touch friendly and use all input types to their best advantage.

Or maybe the other tablet platforms and their apps will mature to where they can be considered applications. I don't know, but it may take 2-3 years to find out.

Nathan

[Harry]

Do you really want to develop for Visual Studio with a touch interface? Tablets are consumption devices for the time being, not pure creation devices. There are some things that are just best left to good old computers. But for most users, a tablet used for consumption and light communication is more than enough.