HP Touchpad: 'the last stand for competitors for the iPad'

[RockdaMan]

I have seen no proof that a tablet market exists outside of the iPad, and having witnessed the dismal launch of big-name Android tablets nothing has changed my view. Android tablets are not selling well by anyone’s standard, and RIM has not set sales records with the BlackBerry PlayBook. Apple keeps selling millions of iPads, and a big bank of competitors keeps releasing tablets that few are buying.

Analysts have noticed this too, as reports of tablet makers slowing down production of brand new tablet models tells the tale. Recent surveys still show clearly that the iPad is growing even though the number of competing products in the market is increasing. Consumers are buying iPads but not other tablets in significant numbers.

The good news for HP is the TouchPad is different enough from the pack to have a shot at carving that share.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-new...mpetitors/2961

[boswd]

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer seems to be selling very well by anyone standards.

[HansTWN]

The TouchPad seems to be way ahead of the competition, I do, however, doubt that this will matter much in today's marketplace which values marketing prowess over substance. Especially given the fact that HP hasn't chosen a particularly attractive design.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The TouchPad seems to be way ahead of the competition, I do, however, doubt that this will matter much in today's marketplace which values marketing prowess over substance. Especially given the fact that HP hasn't chosen a particularly attractive design.

Agree!

And I am curious to know in how well or fast webOs market will evolve. Markets is a key piece in the success of all these new tables, including Honeycomb.

[tipstir]

Bias review at Zdnet, I bet he only has iPod iPad. It's up to us customers to choose what they want and can buy. Right now it's just Android and Apple shooting this tablet war out. Tablets are popular people are buying them for all sorts of things. I am using mine to read USA Today and watch Netflix movie on it. Take out to my car and work on the car engine and have the tablet play a movie from Netflix. Or look up car parts. Or monitor the home network too. So a market does exist outside iPad it's called Android tablet!

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The TouchPad seems to be way ahead of the competition, I do, however, doubt that this will matter much in today's marketplace which values marketing prowess over substance. Especially given the fact that HP hasn't chosen a particularly attractive design.

Way ahead in what way? It's on it's gen 1 release and other devices are on their gen 2.

There is no application or third-party device ecosystem.

Folks -- these things don't stand on their own. Their utility is a three-legged thing, of which the hardware is just one leg.

Apple doesn't win just on marketing (remember the cube, anyone?) -- they also have great hardware and an army of developers producing useful applications.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Way ahead in what way? It's on it's gen 1 release and other devices are on their gen 2.

I think he meant in terms of technology, not in terms of development cycle.

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

There is no application or third-party device ecosystem.

I wouldn't say there's no application or third-party device ecosystem. There are already software vendors on board (e.g., Amazon, Skype, QuickOffice). A big question will be if the ecosystem will pick up.

Where HP can really differentiate the TouchPad is in the OS interface. For my phone, I've moved to Android, but I miss WebOS often. I find myself wanting to swipe for actions that take multiple taps on Android. There's elegance in WebOS that I just don't find in iOS or Android.

I think the TouchPad can be a contender, if they can put their premium apps front and center and make people want them, and convince developers that there's a market there.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

There's elegance in WebOS that I just don't find in iOS or Android.

And thats the rub. They introduced it after a competitor was allowed to grab a huge amount of market and mind share...and not before.

These innovative companies need to learn to be first to market. Not second, third, fourth or fifth.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

And thats the rub. They introduced it after a competitor was allowed to grab a huge amount of market and mind share...and not before.

These innovative companies need to learn to be first to market. Not second, third, fourth or fifth.

Actually Palm was not first with WebOS, but first with PalmOS.

And just as on the phone side iOS (that came much later has outlasted PalmOS and WM 6) is now being on its way to being relegated to a distant 2nd or 3rd place, it is still early in the game with tablets. Tablets existed in the 1990s, what Apple did "invent" was the 9.7" ipod.

And Apple did best when it came late to the market, iPod, iPad, iPhone come to mind. The only truly innovative Apple product, the Newton, was a bust.

Though I am the first to admit that Apple invented the latest marketing methods, paying off bloggers, etc.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

paying off bloggers, etc.

Link please.

[jocampo]

Well, just saying that Matias is now working for Google Android speaks for itself.

[carld]

Last stand? Android tablets are barely getting started. Wait until it has a mature OS on reasonably priced hardware. I have no doubt at all that Android will eventually dominate tablets.

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

And thats the rub. They introduced it after a competitor was allowed to grab a huge amount of market and mind share...and not before.

Palm (and later, HP) had four problems:

1) PalmOS was left to stagnate. It really didn't evolve all that much after, say, 2005, maybe even 2003. By the time the iPhone came on the scene, PalmOS wasn't even as capable as Windows Mobile.

2) By the time WebOS did come out, Palm was running on fumes. WebOS was their last, best chance. Which brings us to...

3) They all but abandoned legacy apps after WebOS came out. They had a solution, Classic, for running legacy apps, but they chose to make that a paid app, rather than include it with the OS. Ideally, Classic should've just been a set of libraries that kicked in whenever you ran a legacy app. Failing that, they could've included the Classic app for free. I can't emphasize enough how suicidal the decision to make it a paid app was for them. PalmOS had an immense software library, and they just turned around and gave all those uses the finger.

4) The commercials for the Palm Pre were just godawful. Case in point:



Ads like that not only creeped people out, but they didn't showcase the actual phone.

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

These innovative companies need to learn to be first to market. Not second, third, fourth or fifth.

Can you name a product class where Apple was the first to market?

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Can you name a product class where Apple was the first to market?

iPod! hahaha... ops, wait, no ... that was stolen from HP/Carly Fiorina ...

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Can you name a product class where Apple was the first to market?

No. Not on any of their huge hits. But they are unique that way. Other companies can't do business the way Apple does.

The TouchPad or the Xoom would have been as disruptive as the iPad if they didn't have Apple in way. Windows phone 7 too (and yet might be).