HP: WebOS devices are dead

[RobDickinson]

I can't decide if Windows Mobile or BlackBerry's new tablet OS will be the next one to go belly up.... but I'm sure that one of them will fail in the next few years.

Well windows mobile will be replaced by w8 April next year or so + Microsoft just spend billions on patents. And have lots of cash.

So I think I pick BlackBerry...

 

[gsaldivar]

BB's next, probably in less than a year. Windows 8 will be on tablets, that's not going anywhere.

RIM has far more momentum and assets than Palm did at its brink, so I doubt they are going anywhere soon. The problem with RIM is that they face the mammoth task of trying to rewrite their enterprise flagship BES to work on QNX. In fact, the first QNX phones that ship won't have it, which puts them at a disadvantage right off the bat with BES companies that have been eager to update their Blackberry devices.

 

[Sheep]

WEBOS IS NOT DEAD :
https://www.facebook.com/pages/People-are-saying-HP-Webos-is-dead/217877454928324?sk=wall

Oh my.

 

[SAWYER]

Yeah it is regardless of what happens, it has been dead and will continue to be

 

[runawayprisoner]

Well, I guess that ends it.

Didn't get a good impression at Best Buy, and now I probably never will get a good impression.

And those who sell it still don't understand that responsiveness and smoothness is a major issue...

 

[Bacstar]

Seems kind of surprising to spend $1.2 billion on the Palm/webOS and to give up in a little less than 2 months.... not counting the millions they spent on developing the TouchPad, Veer and Pre 3. Kinda jaw dropping behavior...

Looking at other examples, MS and the Xbox, they stuck with it through 2 generations of hardware, and look at them now. Guess HP just doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out ....sad so very sad...

 

[smartpatrol]

Anybody making a tablet should ask themselves: "Why would the average consumer buy this instead of an iPad?"

 

[smartpatrol]

Seems kind of surprising to spend $1.2 billion on the Palm/webOS and to give up in a little less than 2 months.... not counting the millions they spent on developing the TouchPad, Veer and Pre 3. Kinda jaw dropping behavior...

Looking at other examples, MS and the Xbox, they stuck with it through 2 generations of hardware, and look at them now. Guess HP just doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out ....sad so very sad...

To be honest, I don't know if there's anything they could've done to compete against Android, iOS, WP7, and RIM. Those are all complete ecosystems of services that took years, and billions of dollars, to build up.

The only way HP could've competed with them is to sink billions of dollars and endure at least a couple years losing money. Even then it would've been a gamble that's nowhere near certain to pay off. And the competition isn't standing still, in fact they're very aggressively pushing forward.

 

[ultimatebob]

WEBOS IS NOT DEAD :
https://www.facebook.com/pages/People-are-saying-HP-Webos-is-dead/217877454928324?sk=wall

Oh my.

It's official... WebOS is an extinct niche OS with a small cult following. Just like the Commodore Amiga

 

[SKORPI0]

It's official... WebOS is a niche OS with a small cult following. Just like the Commodore Amiga

Keep of my Amiga 500.

 

[kaerflog]

Seems kind of surprising to spend $1.2 billion on the Palm/webOS and to give up in a little less than 2 months.... not counting the millions they spent on developing the TouchPad, Veer and Pre 3. Kinda jaw dropping behavior...

Looking at other examples, MS and the Xbox, they stuck with it through 2 generations of hardware, and look at them now. Guess HP just doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out ....sad so very sad...

You're comparing the Xbox who only had Sony and Nintendo to compete with ??
Android, iOS, WP7, RIM.
Competing against 2 major platform vs 4 is a big big difference.

 

[Deeko]

Sorry man, you know I love you, but I gotta post this

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32134416&postcount=223

I would never have guessed it either, this has been one crazy ass week. A little disturbing too, lots of stuff changing quickly.

Haha well, like I said, I certainly didn't expect this. Its like they bought the brand but never even gave it a chance to succeed - clearly they needed the new Pre.

 

[lupi]

this was an easy one to call.

interesting thing for me though is my company has been leasing hp pcs for a decade or so now, wonder who they will go to now.

 

[alent1234]

Seems kind of surprising to spend $1.2 billion on the Palm/webOS and to give up in a little less than 2 months.... not counting the millions they spent on developing the TouchPad, Veer and Pre 3. Kinda jaw dropping behavior...

Looking at other examples, MS and the Xbox, they stuck with it through 2 generations of hardware, and look at them now. Guess HP just doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to stick it out ....sad so very sad...

I'm willing to be the original xbox sold more than 25000 units in it's first month. And the xbox had a decent attach rate.

 

[Fox5]

My prediction:

Eventually everyone (except Apple), will just fork Android with their own UI and services. They'll get the synergy of the app market that way. Microsoft may even join in, and port their frameworks to it, attempting the embrace and extend maneuver that they're best at.

 

[gsaldivar]

My prediction:

Eventually everyone (except Apple), will just fork Android with their own UI and services. They'll get the synergy of the app market that way.

The android market isn't open source.

 

[Pliablemoose]

My prediction: Android goes private in 1-2 years, at least Google's version of it.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

ARGHHHHHHHHHH!

(shakes fist at HP)

REALLY makes me wish someone that knows what they're doing had bought Palm. Ridiculous. A nice FU to the people that picked up a Touchpad in the past couple weeks on sale.

That acquisition basically screwed 3 companies. It cost HP 1.2 Billion, it doomed Palm, and it screwed RIM by outbidding them when they actually might have done something productive with Palm.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Ready for the conspiracy theory?

Apple killed HP.

It sucked away high end sales with it's notebooks and desktops.

It delayed the purchase of replacement laptops because people bought an iPad and decided to use the old laptop/desktop for another year or two since they work ok.

And the iPad has become the iPod (when people talk about a tablet, they mean iPad)

I know the sales figures show Android has 30% of the tablet market, but Gruber had an excellent piece about how those numbers are very misleading, by talking about the tablets in the sales channel versus those actually sold. All of the iPads are actually sold versus the Android tablets in the sales channel (250,000 unsold TouchPads for Best Buy alone ring a bell? All those massive tablet price cuts and discounts? Hell, THE BEST Android tablet was on eBay as a daily deal yesterday).

 

[gsaldivar]

That acquisition basically screwed 3 companies. It cost HP 1.2 Billion, it doomed Palm, and it screwed RIM by outbidding them when they actually might have done something productive with Palm.

at the time palm was purchased they were already doomed, they simply took the best offer that was on the table. Webos would turn to shit in hp's hands, I thought that was a given, it would just be a matter of time

 

[Fox5]

The android market isn't open source.

I didn't mean specifically google's market, just the apps will still be compatible with the OS. Everyone can make their own app store and people will publish to it since it's no additional work, and they have to if they want access to the sizable market share of that company's handsets.

Android is open source.

Google's value add is its apps.
Of google's apps, the app store is by far the easiest to replicate, and even better it.

 

[Pliablemoose]

HP is taking a $100,000,000 hit over Touchpad inventory.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...e_to_cover_unsold_stockpile_of_touchpads.html

Ouch.

 

[Bryf50]

HP is taking a $100,000 hit over Touchpad inventory.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...e_to_cover_unsold_stockpile_of_touchpads.html

Ouch.

At first i was like that's not so bad and then i realized you're missing 3 0's.

Anyway Palm really fudged up the lauch of the first pre. At the time software wise it was the only real competitor to the iPhone. Also during this time the iphone was exclusive to AT&T. This could of really worked in their favor but for some reason they decided to make it a Sprint exclusive for way too long. If they released it for Verizon there is a very good chance I would have had one.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

at the time palm was purchased they were already doomed, they simply took the best offer that was on the table. Webos would turn to shit in hp's hands, I thought that was a given, it would just be a matter of time

Yeah of course they were dead in the water before the acquisition, but other companies like RIM or Nokia may have actually been able to do something with what they had.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

I'd add that going Sprint exclusive with the Pre was one of the dumbest business moves ever. Google got away with launching the G1 on Tmobile because they new that was just a practice launch. When they wanted a real launch they went to Verizon. At the time the Pre was released Palm new they needed a home run to save the company. There was no chance of getting that home run on Sprint no matter how good the product was.