MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - WebOs will be open source, and of course, alive and supported by HP

jocampo · 12-10-2011, 09:26 PM

This is a very, very, complex topic.

But in a nutshell. The idea was launching a nice hardware with a nice Os, and allow the market to growth. It is virtually impossible to launch a product with a complete market at the same time of the release; it takes months, even a year. Amazon content is just ok, and it was release several months ago.

Waiting until an app market is mature, is not an option either, because then you launch your product too late. Remember, in technology, a year is almost a century.

The problem with other products and their markets is that no matter what, will be compared to Apple and iPads. But what some folks forget, is that it took months for iPad to get true iPad apps. But of course, we had nothing to compare so the situation was better for Apple. When you're the 1st on something and it creates a success, the only competitor or point of comparison is yourself.

About releasing a 10" tablet with a 200 dollar price, that's just not possible, period. The cost of the TouchPad is about 300 dollars. Nobody sell products to lose money and unless Amazon, HP was not looking for long term profit via software or retail sales, besides, is a risky move. Selling hardware at loss, expecting to recover later via software, is a risky move no matter what, and the more you sell, the more you need to make later to recover.

I believe the idea of buying webOs was, again, expanding the HP software's portfolio and getting some patents that otherwise, was gonna be too expensive. HP was interested on the smartphone market (hardware) but it is easier to sell and make those kind of products if you own both, software and hardware.

The regular Os business is a different story. It is easier to change operating systems on computers and laptops (excluding Macs) than smartphones, because hardware and carrier limitations. Plus there are huge agreements between Microsoft and HP that allow both to make good profit and cooperate together. HP wanted to enter in the smartphone arena without having to rely in third party vendors in order to run the operating system, like using Android or Windows.

Yes, the acquisition went bad, but in my opinion, it made sense.

12-10-2011, 09:26 PM	#15
jocampo Layback feline Posts: 3,034 Karma: 6980745 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"	This is a very, very, complex topic. But in a nutshell. The idea was launching a nice hardware with a nice Os, and allow the market to growth. It is virtually impossible to launch a product with a complete market at the same time of the release; it takes months, even a year. Amazon content is just ok, and it was release several months ago. Waiting until an app market is mature, is not an option either, because then you launch your product too late. Remember, in technology, a year is almost a century. The problem with other products and their markets is that no matter what, will be compared to Apple and iPads. But what some folks forget, is that it took months for iPad to get true iPad apps. But of course, we had nothing to compare so the situation was better for Apple. When you're the 1st on something and it creates a success, the only competitor or point of comparison is yourself. About releasing a 10" tablet with a 200 dollar price, that's just not possible, period. The cost of the TouchPad is about 300 dollars. Nobody sell products to lose money and unless Amazon, HP was not looking for long term profit via software or retail sales, besides, is a risky move. Selling hardware at loss, expecting to recover later via software, is a risky move no matter what, and the more you sell, the more you need to make later to recover. I believe the idea of buying webOs was, again, expanding the HP software's portfolio and getting some patents that otherwise, was gonna be too expensive. HP was interested on the smartphone market (hardware) but it is easier to sell and make those kind of products if you own both, software and hardware. The regular Os business is a different story. It is easier to change operating systems on computers and laptops (excluding Macs) than smartphones, because hardware and carrier limitations. Plus there are huge agreements between Microsoft and HP that allow both to make good profit and cooperate together. HP wanted to enter in the smartphone arena without having to rely in third party vendors in order to run the operating system, like using Android or Windows. Yes, the acquisition went bad, but in my opinion, it made sense. Last edited by jocampo; 12-10-2011 at 09:33 PM.