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The TouchPad is a real disaster. 10% sell rate even after promotions? This is like ET for the Atari 2600. Best Buy was ready to just send back 245,000 out of th

by ansy 15y ago

The TouchPad is a real disaster. 10% sell rate even after promotions? This is like ET for the Atari 2600. Best Buy was ready to just send back 245,000 out of the 270,000 it ordered because it couldn't sell them. At least HP agreed to give them away at liability cost instead of dumping them in a landfill. Notice HP did not pull the Pre and Veer phones from the shelves or put them on fire sale. HP's reasons for keeping the webOS lights on are probably threefold. 1) Phones are still for sale. 2) HP has a liability to show some support for webOS devices it sold or risk a class action lawsuit. 3) HP could still sell the Palm assets to someone and the company is lot more valuable if it comes with employees.

ugh 15y ago
I have real trouble understanding that. I don’t know how tablets are presented in the US but in my local German electronics retailer they are all right next to each other. The TouchPad even had more promotional material around it, it should have sticked out. (Ignoring the iPad which is right next to the other tablets but on an extra table with all the other Apple stuff.) Ignoring the iPad, I don’t understand how the TouchPad could be less successful than all the other tablets. Android can’t be the reason, that’s not how the tablets are presented. They are the Samsung tablet, the Motorola tablet, the Asus tablet, the HP tablet. It’s not even obvious that the Motorola and the Samsung tablet run the same OS, at least if you are a casual shopper, trying out tablets. To me, Android and webOS didn’t feel different enough to make one the clear winner, at least if you have limited time and are just playing around with it. The price certainly can’t be the reason, they all cost about the same. Android tablets seem to at least be a little successful, why is the TouchPad not at all successful?
- lukifer 15y ago
  What killed the TouchPad more than anything was lack of differentiation. If they had been $400 from the start, they could have been "the iPad, but cheaper". They could have started with a 7-8" model. They could have targeted specific niche markets or verticals en masse, preloading them with use-case specific apps and selling thousands of units at a time to big orgs. As it is, the webOS is a brilliant OS which HP completely squandered. I hope it somehow lives on via skunkworks or homebrew; I plan on keeping my $99 unit, as the browser and e-book functions will keep it useful for years to come. (Side note: it's also occurred to me that webOS is perfect for large-scale touch computing, of the "big-screen drafting table" variety. Why they haven't pursued this instead of touchable iMac knockoffs is beyond me.)
  - teyc 15y ago
    Actually, there are better places than trying to differentiate on price. Printing with the iPad is a prickly issue today. If HP were to even launch one printer that worked with the TouchPad, it would have been an opening salvo that Apple will have to scramble to catch up. Secondly, cameras represent the last bastion of consumer goods that hasn't been computerized the way a music player has been computerized. HP could have licensed WebOS to camera manufacturers and build up a defense against further penetration from Apple. Nikon, Canon etc should be concerned that they have nothing if Apple decided to eat their lunch.
    - nutjob123 15y ago
      its my understanding that the touchpad could actually print documents to a lot of HP printers
      - teyc 15y ago
        and they didn't bother to tell anyone about it?
        ugh 15y ago
        Printing is not the killer feature you think it is – especially for a device like a tablet (consumption oriented and in many cases a great replacement for paper).
        teyc 15y ago
        I know of several enterprise customer asking for iPad apps but come up with WTF it can't print?
        ugh 15y ago
        It can! But only to specific HP printers (just like the TouchPad). Printing is one of those things that’s nice to have but ultimately not a (lone) deciding factor. Currently all implementations suck if you don’t have one of the few supported HP printers†. Maybe a more encompassing solution would have helped the TouchPad (for example the ability to use any printer in the network) but I doubt that for such a feature alone TouchPads would have sold that much better. Apple already had a feature implemented (in one of their betas) that allowed you to use printers connected to your Macs but they ditched it for some reason. Maybe technical reasons? Maybe politics? (Could they have a deal with HP?) Having one (or even a few) HP printers that support the TouchPad – as you suggested – is demonstrably not good enough. The TouchPad flopped regardless. — † Android is a different story but as far as I can see not a very pleasant one.

by ansy 15y ago

ugh 15y ago

I have real trouble understanding that. I don’t know how tablets are presented in the US but in my local German electronics retailer they are all right next to each other. The TouchPad even had more promotional material around it, it should have sticked out. (Ignoring the iPad which is right next to the other tablets but on an extra table with all the other Apple stuff.) Ignoring the iPad, I don’t understand how the TouchPad could be less successful than all the other tablets. Android can’t be the reason, that’s not how the tablets are presented. They are the Samsung tablet, the Motorola tablet, the Asus tablet, the HP tablet. It’s not even obvious that the Motorola and the Samsung tablet run the same OS, at least if you are a casual shopper, trying out tablets. To me, Android and webOS didn’t feel different enough to make one the clear winner, at least if you have limited time and are just playing around with it. The price certainly can’t be the reason, they all cost about the same. Android tablets seem to at least be a little successful, why is the TouchPad not at all successful?

lukifer 15y ago
What killed the TouchPad more than anything was lack of differentiation. If they had been $400 from the start, they could have been "the iPad, but cheaper". They could have started with a 7-8" model. They could have targeted specific niche markets or verticals en masse, preloading them with use-case specific apps and selling thousands of units at a time to big orgs. As it is, the webOS is a brilliant OS which HP completely squandered. I hope it somehow lives on via skunkworks or homebrew; I plan on keeping my $99 unit, as the browser and e-book functions will keep it useful for years to come. (Side note: it's also occurred to me that webOS is perfect for large-scale touch computing, of the "big-screen drafting table" variety. Why they haven't pursued this instead of touchable iMac knockoffs is beyond me.)
- teyc 15y ago
  Actually, there are better places than trying to differentiate on price. Printing with the iPad is a prickly issue today. If HP were to even launch one printer that worked with the TouchPad, it would have been an opening salvo that Apple will have to scramble to catch up. Secondly, cameras represent the last bastion of consumer goods that hasn't been computerized the way a music player has been computerized. HP could have licensed WebOS to camera manufacturers and build up a defense against further penetration from Apple. Nikon, Canon etc should be concerned that they have nothing if Apple decided to eat their lunch.
  - nutjob123 15y ago
    its my understanding that the touchpad could actually print documents to a lot of HP printers
    - teyc 15y ago
      and they didn't bother to tell anyone about it?
      - ugh 15y ago
        Printing is not the killer feature you think it is – especially for a device like a tablet (consumption oriented and in many cases a great replacement for paper).
        teyc 15y ago
        I know of several enterprise customer asking for iPad apps but come up with WTF it can't print?
        ugh 15y ago
        It can! But only to specific HP printers (just like the TouchPad). Printing is one of those things that’s nice to have but ultimately not a (lone) deciding factor. Currently all implementations suck if you don’t have one of the few supported HP printers†. Maybe a more encompassing solution would have helped the TouchPad (for example the ability to use any printer in the network) but I doubt that for such a feature alone TouchPads would have sold that much better. Apple already had a feature implemented (in one of their betas) that allowed you to use printers connected to your Macs but they ditched it for some reason. Maybe technical reasons? Maybe politics? (Could they have a deal with HP?) Having one (or even a few) HP printers that support the TouchPad – as you suggested – is demonstrably not good enough. The TouchPad flopped regardless. — † Android is a different story but as far as I can see not a very pleasant one.