HP begins to show its scale prowess 110
With today’s official press release out of Palo Alto, HP has finally given a release date for its first foray into the tablet space, and boy what a release it’s going to be. According to their announcement, Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, Walmart, Sam’s Club, OfficeMax, Amazon.com, Fry’s, Microcenter, other leading local and regional retailers, and HP’s online stores will all begin sales of the TouchPad on that date. That’s without question the lion’s share of retail space, both online and off.
In fact, looking at research done by the NPD group from 2010, Walmart, Target, Staples and Best Buy alone are four of the top five brick and mortar tech retailers in the United States (Apple being the fifth), and HP, Best Buy, and Amazon being three of the top five online retailers (with Apple and Dell rounding out that list.) Walmart also happens to be by far the largest overall retailer globally. A great list, for sure. Add to that what we already know about HP reserving special shelf space at Walmart and Best Buy for their halo tablet, and this is looking like anything but a soft launch.
But the news gets even better. While the span of time for Palm to reach a global presence with their handsets prior to HP was measured in months, HP went on announce availability of the TouchPad in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Germany a few days later and in Canada by mid-July. Additionally, Italy, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore will follow suit later in the year. Major global presence over the course of 2 weeks? Looks like HP’s promised “scale” is shaping up to be more than just talk. A lot more.
Source: HP Press Release
110 Comments
MMmmmmmmm tasty, tasty scale.
Palm, in recent years, only made phones which meant dealing with carriers. So its a little misleading to brag about scale with a non phone product.
When it comes to phones, we've not seen HP show off any kind of scale prowess.
I still find it delicious. You can't take that from me.
My prom date showed a little scale prowess and was booted from the dance! ...wait, huh?
Seems that HP doesn't want to have the Veer to be known, until all this 3 devices are out.
Veer has one missing update, Touch to Share, when it receive this feature, we're connected.
That's a pretty minor update to be holding off on any marketing besides a weak lone commercial. Remember, the Veer is aimed at cheap first time users. Not exactly the ones who will spend hundreds on a tablet they don't need.
Except that....they're airing national commercials for it featuring a prominent boxing celebrity and have "Everybody On" tables featuring the Veer at Best Buy!
Which is it....they want it known...they don't want it known? Who knows? Sign of a great marketing campaign there.
Well, Veer is at AT&T, Amazon, and HP's own store at launch.... Pre was at Sprint.
And very soon (like in a few weeks) it will be in the most important markets (Europe, Canada etc.) versus "6 months EXCLUSIVE to Sprint and not releasing it anywhere else, not even anywhere else in the whole WORLD".
That's simply not true. The Pre launched in other markets besides Sprint during the first 6 months. Not that it matters really.
now I'm starting to get really excited..
but STILL no word on the Pre3, not even a rumour
And once the Pre3 is announced, people will be asking about the slab phone... sheesh...
You're darn right! And then where's webOS for Windows, and then where's my webOS PC? Can't blame us for dreaming.
C'mon HP! Show us some PHONE scale prowess!! I have no interest in or use for a tablet.
It's not insatiable phone desire that's the issue mgbmusic, it's the fact that some of us (Sprint users) have had NO new phones from Palm OR HP in TWO YEARS. My poor Pre- is looking so abused and desperately needs to be replaced, but not a whisper about new phones on Sprint.
Instead we get the Veer showing up on the crappiest network in America, AT&T.
Sprint users need new WebOS phones. NOW! I'm getting tired of waiting.
The thing is, you (and I!) are not leaving Sprint to buy a WebOS phone on another carrier, so our demands for a WebOS phone on Sprint are somewhat empty.
If every WebOS user on Sprint (sure, there are only about ten of us, but that's 30% of Sprint's customer base! ;-) ) signed a two-year deal with another carrier for a WebOS phone, Sprint might feel compelled to negotiate with HP. But as hooked as we are on WebOS, we're more hooked into the rates or service plans at Sprint.
Put WebOS on Virgin and I might buy 2 ;-)
I think most of us will be asking for the well-promoted, promptly announced-and-delivered, well-supported-by-multiple-carriers phone.
If HP/Palm/whatever could just get ONE of those out, would be glorious.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here is your rumor: I STILL have mine pre-ordered in Germany and they STILL say that they are going to have it in store on June the 17th! :P
bye
Ummmm... There're PLENTY of rumors. Too many. lol.
How about some real digging?
Will, or Will NOT, HP ship 16Gb version to these retail stores?
This line is from the press release:
"HP TouchPad will be available from U.S. retailers, commercial resellers and direct from HP with the option of either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage(1) for $499.99 and $599.99, respectively.(2)"
I think that's fairly definitive.
Reading comprehension? Just saying.
when can i order from amazon and get my prime delivery?
not that im getting a touchpad yet?
I just hope they have volume going out-- yes, most of those stores are right near me, but I won't be stoked if I have to hit 8 of them to score a TP on a holiday weekend.
On the other hand, yet another excuse to take Friday off :)
Seeing how only readers on P|C know what the touchpad is, I doubt you will have to worry about the product selling out at all locations.
I would wait a month or two though for the $100 - $150 price drop.
I'm starting to wonder if many readers on P/C even understand what the Touchpad is. Seems like many are bringing Apple-ish expectations along.
with that username your comment makes sense.
Thanks, I like my username too!
But if my comment is so out of line I would like to know what % of Americans you think would be able to say right now what a HP touchpad is.
My guess, 1-2%
My guess is that 90% of that 1-2% thinks it is the thing laptops have instead of a mouse.
And my guess is, that this will change a lot after a marketing-blitz...
Before Apple introduced the iPad, what do you mean that 90% of the Americans would associate with this?
I think 3 weeks before launch There was a h*** of a lot more buzz with iPAD. There was also a hugely successful sister product, the iPhone, which millions were already using, therefore users were already familiar with the OS of ipad, making it easy for people interested to purchase. HP has no successful sister product, not pre, pixi, pre2 or veer.
The also had apps they purchased with iphone that they could use on ipad.
so yes, not 90% but 50% would have been familiar with the product.
Verstehst du?
Oh I don't know, people who read uh... LA Times, Washington Post, The Journal, CNN, Reuters, PC World, Computer World, etc. So I guess that'd make it TENS of MILLIONS??
http://news.google.com/news/story?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22hp+touch...
/smh
Actually quizzle, I took notice of your username as well. Could it be that you're affiliated with the credit information website Quizzle.com? If so, you have a great site! Send some webOS love and build us a Quizzle app. Quizzle's sister company Quicken Loans just put out an awesome iphone app and I'm hoping that they offer something similar for webOS down the road. True, webOS is not the big dog but I figure innovative companies might be drawn to webOS' innovative technology.
unlike the wifi touchpad, the pre3 has to be negotiated with the carriers.
And a part of those negotiations are usually big, fat NDAs
Pre3 late summer. Closer to Labor Day. Stop asking about it over and over.
Hey....here are these integrated products that work best when you have two or more of them. Stop wondering when the others are coming, willya?
Makes perfect sense.
Ha! +1. The "Where's the Pre 3?!" posts are getting old, but you win sir.
If I could give you more thumbs up, i would!
Oh, you mean Fall. Thanks!
I think you mean Fail. "Fall" starts September 22, at least in the reality-based world I live in.
So, what you are saying is that since my original Pre only works half the time now I should just get the EVO 3D and stop waiting for a new webOS phone on Sprint until the Pre4 or 5 in a couple years?
No more little Palm to kick around anymore, webOS is in the big leagues now.
Hope the developers show the same enthusiasm as the retailers.
Either way im getting one.
Homebrew will make this a very fun toy.
Homebrew does a great job no doubt, but it's not enough if WebOS is going to gain real traction. I love my pre, but it's very frustrating that every tv network, magazine, bank, and service that I use are coming out with apps, some of them very useful, and I never get them because I use WebOS. I'm not a dev, but I read something a year or so ago saying that it is quite easy to translate iphone apps to webOS. Not sure if that's the case, but I thought for sure that I would be seeing a lot more mainstream apps. That never seemed to materialize. I'm very excited about the touchpad and pre3, but I desperately hope that HP can bring in developer interest. I've been with WebOS since 8am on day 1, but if we don't get the apps, I will have to part from the one I love.
i would say the best way to see things turn around on that front, will be the adoption of webOS, and also if users send an email on a regular basis(monthly, twice a monthy whatever) to inquire about if they will be making an app for webOS, cause if theres no interest from consumers whether by adoption of devices or by inquiring.
Cause usually when i inquire about every 3months or so, im told "they are looking into other mobile os'" or "or currently working on most of the mainstream/popular ones at the moment" or "currently our focus is elsewhere and we may revisit it at a later time"
Um, I thought there was an article on here the other day that HP is shutting down the Homebrew app feeds.
Wrrrrrong! Try reading again.
Just because your product is in walmart and bestbuy does not mean it will succeed. Many products have been in those stores and failed.
It will hurt when they have to make a price drop months after release. That will make it look much cheaper than just pricing it lower than 1Pad2 to start out.
Yeah, it's not "just" in those stores. It's in those stores with prime locations and displays separated from everything else. This product will be getting attention like most other devices never see.
Yes, just like all the attention that veer is getting by the stores employees who could care-less.
What scale prowess... Unlike Apple HP can't seem to deliver worldwide at once
plus the announcement was in a quiet press release and not as Some HUGE event displaying how great it works and all the great app Partners they will be launching w/ like Netflix and stuff like that. I hope then send review units out soon so i can see the reviews on it. I will make my deciding call on the reviews. It's either get it now or wait for the second gen.
You mean that unlike Apple people globally will want this product? If you were more in tune with the global market place you would know that in most countries outside the US Apple is not #1... or #2 for that matter.
Most people are not Apple fanboys in other countries.
I'm from the Netherlands, I wouldn't know the first thing about the market in the USA and it's not my primary point of reference.
Also don't try to put words in my mouth. I am merely stating my skepticism regarding HP's scale if they cannot pull off a global launch like competitors have been shown to be capable of.
I feel like you assume because HP is a big player (bigger than Apple), people will want to buy their tablets and phones, therefore HP needs to ensure to have a bigger stock than, for example, Apple should have at launch to satisfy demand. That is also something I disagree with, if that's indeed your assertion which at this point is merely my assumption.
Apple's products are in a different class right now that makes it worthwhile for them to put the resources forward to have it available worldwide on the same day.
I just don't think it makes sense for HP to spend the effort to get a worldwide launch together. Granted, I'm in the U.S., but if I was in a country that wouldn't be getting it for another few days, or even two weeks after the initial launch, I wouldn't mind. It's not like they are delaying the launch of the product for 2 months or anything.
Agreed, part of my reaction is annoyance. However I wouldn't be annoyed if it was a question of days or weeks... My country isn't even listed as a point of release for "later this year".
[edit]
Thing is... I've been championing WebOS for a while now. Many of my friends and relatives are holding out for the TouchPad instead of the iPad. But I grow tired, oh so tired because of the lack of hardware to back it all up. Not a single WebOS device has been officially released here. Whatever WebOS devices exist in the Netherlands are all so-called 'gray import', with the need to be activated abroad because of a lackluster app catalog if not...
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one in this situation. It's pretty similar to the situation all the Sprint early adopters with their Pre phones are in. Looking for some love! ;)
[/edit]
Well, like me (in Sweden) just buy it online from the HP store in UK. It's the single market anyway so it's easy. And with no geo-restrictions in 3.0 we don't even have the problem of activation I had when I bought my Pre2. My understanding is that when HP talks about launching in additional EU countries they are probably talking about:
1. Making deals with retail stores (which should not be so complicated as they are already selling huge numbers of stuff through stores already)
2. Localisation, for users and for possible regulatory reasons when targetting a specific country
Either way, no problem for me buying it from any of the launch countries online. I don't even have to work around the qwertz keyboard on my German Pre-...
Update: Prices in € 16GB €479 and 32GB €579 (from German page)
Prices in £ 16GB €479 and 32GB €579 (from UK page)
Sure, were it not that the Netherlands is the country with the heaviest carrier subsidies in the world afaik. With the Pre 3 in that price category it will be free on a 2 year contract. Don't see why I would spend 100s of euro's on it then.
Also I'm not exactly clear on the UK prices you listed. Did you convert them to € yourself or are those £ numbers.
Actually Apple CAN'T deliver worldwide... just ask people from China, Brazil etc... it usually takes them very long (sometimes even years) to introduce their products locally.
Just because they succeed to deliver on your market and on the American market quickly doesn't mean "globally".
Well it's not like those are big countries with big populations or anything...
It's not like it's manufactured in any of those countries either.
And when has apple launched globally all at once?
Please provide the details.
"Walmart, Target, Staples and Best Buy alone are four of the top five brick and mortar tech retailers in the United States (Apple being the fifth)"
If HP had any real "scale prowess," they would get Apple to carry it! Come on HP, you bunch of losers. :-)
On 2nd thought, that still wouldn't satisfy some.
LOL, plus one for you! :)
Please check the headline. It's "its", not "it's". "Its" is the possessive adjective. The apostrophe in "it's" is a contracted version of it is. Similarly, "there" is where something is. "Their" is the possessive adjective.
WebOS is on track to pervade the global market place. With HP behind the wheel, the reach of WebOS is limitless.
While I'm not looking for a tablet, I do hope a successful launch will help pave the way for a successful Pre3 launch and force the carriers to pay attention to HP phones again.
This should also help the Veer get some traction.
Who cares about 'scale prowess'? Just announce when and with who will the Pre3 be available.
Our Pre-'s are just about ready to give up the ghost. Give us an announcement and we will hold on and make the jump and buy your product. Seriously.
We'll buy replacement phones on Sprint until the release and then re-up or jump when the Pre3 releases.
You have customers, HP! Throw us a bone!
I think I will hold off until I see if Sprint will get a webOS phone. No phone means no touch to share.
And no mobile hotspot, which (if I wanted the TouchPad) would be important to me.
Now, if we can just get it into all the Apple Stores, too!
Start the game already!
Great example of their "scale prowess":
I stroll into Best Buy over lunch and ask the phone lady if she has a HP Veer anywhere. She says "No...we carry them, but I don't have it now. My display model went missing too." I ask how they've been selling. She says "Well, I haven't sold one, but I think it's ok. I dunno." Fair enough.
I stroll away toward computers and spy an HP "Everybody On" table. Jackpot, right? Placeholder for the Touchpad, and flanked by a white and black Veer.....
...the White One had no power to it whatsoever. The black one was a dummy model that couldn't be powered. The phone lady had no idea they were there. Everybody (not) On.
There's your "scale prowess". Meanwhile, one table over....32GB Acer Iconia Tab, fully powered, loaded with Tegra games, and wifi enabled...$449.
Doesn't matter. The Acer isn't selling. No one likes Android on a tablet. If they did, Apple would still have 90%+ market share.
And your Acer sales data is provided by? Must be awesome considering it's been available for less than 60 days.
But hey...no one likes WebOS on a phone thus far, either, so it's not all bad.
But things will be different with the Touchpad right? :P
This just in: Best Buy employees -- and the knowledge of those employees -- vary from store to store.
I'm not sure what point you were trying to make...but if you were using your story to make a statement about HP's (in)ability to make a big launch, you did not succeed.
Because obviously, no Best Buy ever carries a de-powered display Android phone or iPhone, and every Best Buy employee cared about every phone in the store. I'm sure that same "phone lady" -- or maybe a separate 'tablet lady/man' -- knew all about the Acer, amirite?
Well, seeing as how:
1) The Acer did not have a branded table and was not a PHONE, so the phone lady shouldn't have known about it.
2) This was at an HP-branded display table, so the conditions of products there should be set and mandated by HP, not Best Buy.
3) If you want to compare apples-to-apples, the Motorola Atrix DID have a Moto branded display there, yet was powered up and fully functional.
....I think what you said wasn't particularly relevant.
But sure...let's couple with this with ALL of the stories of having to beg employees to even see the Veer or being shooed away by AT&T reps....and chalk this up as an isolated incident. Yeah, let's do that.
Sigh. Let's do what you did, just for kicks...
1) Irrelevant. I mentioned the possibility of a separate "tablet person" who might have known about the Acer. I guess you conveniently ignored that part of my post for the purpose of...I dunno, making your list 3 points long?
2) Just because companies mandate something at a nationwide chain doesn't mean that mandate will be executed 100% of the time. How many Best Buy and AT&T stores do you think there are in the United States? I've seen more dedicated retail displays with non-working phones over the years than you can (apparently) imagine. Failing to adhere to that type of agreement is an indictment of the retailer, not of the product (or the product's manufacturer) -- or do you think any company is capable of monitoring every cellphone store and big-box store to ensure even near-universal compliance? You can only do that when you own the stores.
3) I've also seen plenty of dedicated displays with working phones. Sounds like you ran into one of those, too.
Anecdotal stories are fun to use to heap abuse on a product (webOS) that has already seen hard times. There will always be people who will kick at something when it's down.
Given HP's resources, vendor network and market penetration, it's obvious that they are choosing not to push the Veer at this time. Why? Probably because they know it will have much more appeal when the TouchPad is out, but I don't know for sure. I know they can perform above your limited examples because I (and every other Internet user and/or TV-watcher) see(s) craploads of HP marketing every day on a variety of their products. Clearly this isn't a question of ability or competence.
This particular article is centered around HPs ability to get this kind of space in so many retail locations to launch the TouchPad -- NOT the Veer. From this article (and others), it's clear they are dedicating far more resources to marketing the TouchPad. And HP is using its "scale prowess" to do it. Using your one example and the "many" other stories you've read about poor displays as an indictment of HP's ability/willingness to market a given product is akin to claiming that the 'countless' iPhone 4 videos showing the phone's antenna flaw is proof that Apple can't build phones.
Thus, I still don't find your first-person observations of the Veers at one Best Buy particularly relevant, either. There is a lot of room between "isolated incident" and 'widespread problem' -- but Internet commentary isn't very good at nuance.
Nice try, but no. HP IS marketing the Veer with a high profile television commercial and displays like the one I saw. Additionally, they chose to provide a dummy phone to that display. In the case of the non-powered white Veer, there was no power cord or Touchstone in sight.
I realize you think this all to be exceptional. I think it is more of the same. If reps in your stores, can't direct customers to product and the product can't be demoed at a table built for that very purpose, then HP's scale just ensures more customers get turned off to this platform than Palm could ever manage.
I have never seen a phone in BestBuy that was powered up and usable.
So what is your point again?
There was a fully functional Motorola Atrix 4G at a Moto display there along with the usual iPhone Apple-branded display.
THAT is my point. If you want to be just another manufacturer with phones in the same non-functional state as everyone else, don't waste money on custom tables and endcaps. Don't talk about your unique promotional scale and leverage.
HP better get things figured out with Sprint because I'm not waiting forever and now this news will make it harder to wait:
http://www.9to5mac.com/71341/sprint-iphone-in-advanced-testing
HP is just waiting for the right moment to strike with Sprint. I'm guessing that right moment involves the iphone..lol
It's still talk until I see it happening.
(...)What scale prowess... Unlike Apple HP can't seem to deliver worldwide at once (...)
Yes, I Agree.
We have until IPad 2, Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab, IPhones 4 and more being selled in Brazil, but NEVER has a webOS device here... need to say more?
Best Regards... B)
i would be pissed if i buy this n they release another one thats much better! But im getting this guy for sure!
Pre3 labor day. Stop whining.
Pre3 is already so far behind specwise, i would like to see them go straight to pre4.
Yeah, with all those 1.6 GHz phones running around!
Launch partners, launch partners, launch partners.
Without Netflix, Skype, Piq, HBOgo, Slingbox, Kindle, Nook, Native Document editing, Native Photo and Video Editing, Native Music and Video service.....etc
The greatest tablet in the world will still sit unsold on the shelves. Not everyone wants one of these to hack and homebrew. The vast majority of folks want a product they can use to consume content and media, as well as create and share content such as pictures, video and social networking.
They will announce all of those apps at the HP Touchpad launch event. Wait, there isn't any launch event? Well, never mind, then.
Stay Tuned!
Is that you Richard Kerris?
Sounds like these folks want an ipad then. Maybe HP is targeting the "vast minority" of folks instead?
Everybody on!
I went into Staples today and they had an Acer tablet that wouldn't turn on. I went over to the Xoom area and it was missing.
HP is fitting right in, then. Their scale will give them faaaar more non-functional displays than other PC makers.
Tyndall is an example of a person who pays insufficient attention to announcements. Kindle integration was demoed in February on the HP TouchPad.
Even so, that was 5 months ago. And even so, what about Nook and all the rest? I am sure a port of the Kobo reader app can be done or just use it in the tiny legacy window that the TP will have.
My point is valid. Folks are not going to buy this because it looks nice, is cheap, is expensive or anything other than to USE them. That means creating or consuming content.
Let me see where that content is going to be coming from other than a web browser.
Sorry your point isn't valid. TouchPad will ship with more apps than the 24 native apps the iPad shipped with just a year ago. This is a long race that's only 2 years old. I'm confident the open web will beat a closed system and that's why more open systems like Android and webOS will win the war, even if it looks like the battle is currently difficult against Apple.
If the Pre3 doesn't ship in iDEN on NEXTEL, I am SO switching to Symbian! I refuse to leave my restricted, slower carrier to get the modern mainstream connectivity that a modern smartphone requires!
WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
However skeptical I become about TP future, I wish HP the very best of luck with launch. I hope resellers would be professional and treat it without bias toward platforms they prefer more.
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Australia! Yay! This will be the first WebOS device available down under and hopefully let all the fans down here use their devices without resorting to various hacks to legitimately pay for apps!
All this scale and but...
1) No official WebOS 2 update for Sprint Pre.
2) No word on "making things right".
3) Abandoning, without the slight concern, of the WebOS and Palm faithful long time customers.
4) No word on Pre3 on Sprint
5) Complete fail to market Pre2.
6) Lack luster marketing of the virtually unknown to even AT&T and Best Buy staff.
I don't need a tablet and even if I did I don't trust, nor like, HP enough to every buy one of their underdog products again no matter how much I used to like the WebOS. HP make things right or my next phone will be iOS.
Completely agree!
Maybe once the Pre3 comes out, they'll finally tell us their plan of "making things right" from so many months ago.
I'm not interested in a table either, but I am curious to see if it will be filled with bloatware like their PCs.
My Pre Plus is exactly 1 year old, so to those who excuse lack of support for "legacy devices" I ask. What about those of us who still have a year to go on our contract? I bought the Pre Plus based on what I saw as an attractive phone AND the promise of the updates that were to come. Flash will be here soon, over the air updates, this phone will continue to improve as time goes on....
Flash never came, over the air updates have been canceled (for Pre +/- users).
I spoke with an HP/Palm rep in January at a local electronics store who reinforced those promises. He was very excited about the near future of WebOS. We're gonna make a big announcement in February, he said. You're gonna be so excited, he said.
Even if the Pre3 does come in July, August or September, I'm still on contract and ineligble for upgrade discounts so that doesn't really help me unless they can get me out of my contract (which would certainly explain why it's taking them so long to figure out which carrier will have them)
Reminds me of the old Commodore 64/128 days. We loved our home computers, we even started using modems and got Quantumlink (which eventually evolved into AOL) Then the plug was pulled and no more support, but then there was the Commodore AMIGA which was beautiful and more powerful off the shelf than the competing Mac and (IBM) PC of that time. Unfortunately all the mainstream software devs were writing for Mac and PC , all the schools had Macs (and/or PCs) and finally the Amiga plug was pulled too.
Alas, I am rambling. I apologize.
Please HP, hurry up and make it right
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(jor dan shoes)
(NBA NFL NHL MLB jersey)
( lv handbag)
(cha nel wallet)
(D&G sunglasses)
(ed har dy jacket)
===== http://www.chic-goods.com/ =====
WE ACCEPT PAY PAL PAYMENT
YOU MUST NOT MISS IT!!!
===== http://www.chic-goods.com/ =====
===== http://www.chic-goods.com/ =====