Posted on 02/15/2011 10:39:59 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Let's be very clear, the competition is Apple (AAPL), but those hardware companies who would take on the gang from Cupertino, HP among them, have one huge disadvantage, they don't really do software. Apple's success has shown that designing a device requires careful thought in multiple disciplines. Apple does a better job of cramming more hardware goodness, and software magic into a beautiful gadget that runs faster and leaner than anyone. Apple does it so well, because as opposed to every other company in Silicon Valley, it has made software a priority.
What HP did when it dropped $1.2 billion on Palm, was signal that software is finally front and center for the largest PC company on the planet. It could have relied on Google (GOOG) and its Android operating system for mobile devices, or waited for Microsoft to bring something new and nifty to the party. Instead it decided to go it alone, or rather rely on Jon Rubinstein and his Palm webOS team.
(Excerpt) Read more at tech.fortune.cnn.com ...
imitation is the lowest form of mediocrity.
yeah, you can quote me.
excellent point...
If HP was serious about software... why buy out Plam :/
I’m happy with iOS 4 on the iPad, but will wait for Android 3 on the Motorola Xoom next, sorry HP but Palm thanks but no thanks, have enough nightmares from back in the day supporting their usless phone ‘OS’.
It may end up being the betamax of this decade, but it is far superior to iOS. iOS has the apps and the nice hardware to use it on, but is clunky and inefficient. WebOS is as elegant as Apple's hardware. If HP can find a way to get some traction for WebOS, it would make things interesting.
Unfortunately, I think that HP may be too late to the party. Its touchpad and Pre3 are coming out this summer. By then, Apple will have come out with the iPad2 and iPhone5, and HP will be shooting at a target that has already been moved farther away. They needed to have the Touchpad NOW. The only reason HP has a chance is because of its size and reach. If they come up with a way to tie WebOS to the millions of computers and other devices it sells, it may be able to make up for that tardiness. But it is unlikely.
I don't understand why it has taken so long for all these big hardware makers to respond to the iPad. It was released in April 2010, announced 3 months before that, and rumored 6 months before that. Since release, Apple has been able to develop a 2nd generation device while only Motorola and Samsung have been able to release anything that is even close to competitive. Motorola is not on the market even yet. Apple's advantage is not just its design; it is very good at getting great stuff to market.
What HP could do that Android and Apple cannot is specialize in industry or education. The Android and Ipad are generalist machines, geared more for entertainment than anything else.
If HP were to take their machines and create various kinds of industrial standard software for mobile workers in manufacturing, retail, hospitality, you name it, they could own an important part of the market.
HP is still paying for that Carley bimbo who decided that all their profits should come from printer ink and not from technology.
Such is the fate of a company that uses sales idiots (or MBA idiots, for that matter) to run a company that actually produces things.
Has happened before.
I’ve read that several companies including HP are looking for ways to put an arm computer in parrallel with Wintel on notebooks. Need full computer power, you have 4-6 hours using the full Wintel system, need 16 hours, save your work and switch to the ARM + mobile OS running with a real keyboard and screen.
The concept sounds interesting.
Greater China touch panel market
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China is the world's largest producer of touch panels and China and Taiwan combined to account for close to 80% of touch modules for handsets shipped in 2010.
HP? They make a cheap and fairly reliable printer. All-in-one is handy. As an organization that satisfies customers, or can define the future? Anythings possible, right? Certainly there's the Hewlett "legacy" of fond memory. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
HP does more than make printers. They also sell, among other things, more computers than any company on earth, Apple included. They have a huge piece of the enterprise, and only that kind of leverage gives them a chance to compete at this late date. Don't be such a phanboy.
don't know what that last bit means, but apparently you have pet names for anyone whose views you dont cotton to.
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