HP begins to use their scale to bring webOS into the business world 42
by Robert Werlinger Thu, 26 Aug 2010 2:40 pm EDT
If you've been looking for an example of how HP might be leveraging its oft-mentioned scale to drive the adoption of webOS devices, we've got a good one for you: the company has launched a promotion titled "Tools for the road warior", wherein it bundles a Pixi with its popular-in-the-business-world ProBook line of laptops. While the Pixi can be found at a number of sales outlets for the price of free, this is significant in that HP is leveraging its massively successful line of business laptops (scale) to drive the adoption of webOS in the business and enterprise world in a way that's sure to make competition like Research In Motion envious.
Source: HP; Thanks to dbarkman for the heads up!
42 Comments
Awesome!
how is it awesome that they are now promoting a device that was seriously behind the curve on launch? HPalm should leverage their clout in a new device.....just my opinion.....fire away....
Apparently, leveraging is synonymous with giving-away.
The Blackberry is a natural target for HP/Palm because of HP's presence in all the same enterprises as Blackberry, but to be successful, they'll need to field a device that exudes the same sense of quality as a Blackberry and not phones that feel like something your kid might win at Chuck E. Cheese.
It would be a lot more significant if there was any kind of synergy between the two - like, maybe, a desktop sync application? And/Or if there were some decent business/productivity tools built in to WebOS (yeah, I'm looking at you, Calender and To Do List)
And yes, a higher-end device would be more attractive, but after all, it's just a $549 laptop, so i think a Pixie Plus is actually quite generous. Let's hope that they offer a Pre Plus with mid-range laptops, and the new "halo" device with higher-end laptops and desktop systems.
tthey should promote the mobile hotspot function and tout wireless tethering
on second thought, it better be a pixi plus (for hotspot) or then this is really stupid.
Well whether is a plus or not it is really stupid. They are not giving you a free pixi, you get a pixi for free with activation (just like any customer walking into a verizon or at&t store).
HP really is turning Palm into a joke if this is how they are going to promote it...
Wait until people realize they can get that same pixi free without buying the stupid HP laptop.
That's a little harsh, I understand the Pixi is free anyway, but promoting it as free in as many places as possible is a sensible move. Entry level phones are where the most money is generally made and how you expand your platform's reach.
As long as they steer clear of giving away flagship phones I'm all for it. Doing so would undervalue the Palm brand.
The pixie?
chuck e cheese quality, oh like the little trackballs on blackberry's that always break!
Come on, there are only 2 devices out. whose to say that they won't go ahead and do the same type of promotions with other new ones. Use what you have you can gain a few new users by a simple introduction.
I think this would have been awesome if it would have been the next generation pixi with webos 2.0 or at least just 2.0. In away by doing this it will create even more awareness at how much webos is currently lacking hopefully 2.0 will fix a lot of problems.
I wonder how well this will work...It seems like most corporate customers would already have a corporate-provided phone...but maybe if you're starting at the company vs. getting a laptop refresh (as in, you're already working there, and your laptop needs to be replaced)...
As to whether it's a good idea to offer an "old" phone with the laptop vs a brand new halo device, etc....I don't mean to suggest that HP is quite the same as Apple, but Apple has set a bit of a precedent for this sort of thing, right? Their back to school promotion is typically buy a laptop and get an iPod Touch, ya? And I haven't followed it that closely over the last couple/few years, but isn't the timing of the promotion such that it runs out just before they announce the new iPods? So, promotion-buyers get a just-about-to-be-old iPod Touch.
Inasmuch as HP only has Pre/Pre+'s and Pixis available as choices to offer, I can understand choosing the Pixi...maybe they're thinking more longevity for the promotion, since, at least according to that Verizon screenshot, the Pixi Plus is not going to be phased out until...was it March?
why does no one seem to know how to spell? What is ya? Please, please look it up it's "yea (yay)" and "yeah (i guess ya)" Please quit the torture.
also there def need to be some out of the box desktop sync.
An original Pixi? No Wi-Fi, no mobile hotspot? Seems kinda like a purging of stock more than anything else.
Am I reading it wrong?
I'd look at it the same way. Give them away and purge the stock before the new phones come out.
Yea, it sounds like the same thing Apple was doing with their buy a mack get a free 8GB iTouch promotion, trying to purge their extremely outdated stock.
Yes...you are wrong. It's a Pixi Plus. They are also offering a Pre Plus for $49.99. Go to the link and see for yourself.
Ahh, yes, you are very correct. I'm still thinking they're trying shorten their inventory like how Apple is doing.
When people ask in this time and age for a desktop sync solution, I feel as if they were asking HP to include floppy disks again on their laptops.
If ipad is somethnig to be aware of, you better stay away of any desktop syncing. itunes should and it is, doomed to dissapear as a desktop solution. For the better. So please palm do not invest any resource in making people installing more rubish in their computers and having to fight with drivers, javas, QTs and different OS.
The cloud should be the only thing one need, embrace it.
btw, if they could give phones with your corn flakes, the better for webOS at this time. They need awareness. The problem is that you still need a contract with a carrier.
With the pixi they should walk the same way the ipod touch is walking: gifting it in every possible crappy promotion imaginable.
Great idea. But at the same time, is the Pixi the phone they really want to show business leaders to introduce them to WebOS? At least use a Pixi Plus. Or why not Pre Plus. Show them the best WebOS device to date. Not the worst/slowest/least features.
I think the important point here is that it's a start. Why wait on bundling? Including a free phone, even one behind the curve, isn't likely to backfire on HP in any way. It's the first step in a very long journey.
Seems like giving away a bunch of Pixis to business people will only make the Torch look better.
People keep knocking the Pixi, but it really is a decent little portrait QWERTY device that's more capable than you might think.
... So does this mean there will be an influx of Pixi's on Craigslist?
The only issue I have with my Pre+ as an enterprise device is its inexplicable inability to open a forwarded .eml file. Other than that, I would recommend it over the blackberries I have used because of the real multitasking and the apps already available for it. I could see an enterprise dumping its dedicated blackberry server and connecting webOS devices to its Exchange server. My reservation with the ad campaign is trying to convince a high powered executive that he/she needs a phone called the Pixi.
Yea, easiest work around I've seen for that is to pull up the Exchange server web interface in the browser and open the .eml file from there. Not very convenient but it works if you need to open the file right away.
This message board had become a depressing place. You all need to take your medication or head to your local medical marijuana shop.
Is this giveaway perfect? No. Is it a good thing? Absolutely yes.
If 25% of the people who purchase that computer actually use the Pixi, this is a good thing. Heck, if 5% do, it is a good thing.
Heck put them in boxes of Frosted Flakes. Whatever they can do to clear the way for the Palm Peralta. If they want to use the Pixi as a premium to help sell computers, magnificent. HP is all about value, reward their buyers, keep them coming back. Its not like they're going to sell them for $200 each no matter what apps they come out with. A few thousand more users to get the WebOS experience and whet their appetites for 2.0, DO IT!!!
the Pixi isn't bad... Not good but better then half the Blackberrys out there. Most business phones are used for calls, messaging, emails, calendar, alarms, quick notes and to read documents on the go.
you want to write a document use that laptop,, you want to sync your phone and computer for contacts, calanders etc go back about 4years ago. Everyones dropping computer syncing and doing it via the cloud. Blackberry is like the last company doing computer to phone syncing. I don't count iphone as syncing to a computer just because it syncs through itunes...
Android OS.. Syncs cloud via Gmail
microsoft kin.. Synced via cloud
(betcha windows phone 7 will cloud sync too,, cause the kin was nothing more then a test bed for cloud syncing for microsux)
WebOS,, cloud syncing..
so all the people out there that want to physically sync their phones and computers my only comment is... Update your computers from Windows XP to Windows7 and catch up with the rest of the cloud syncing world..
FYI Last few I.T.s, web designers, business owners etc etc have been cloud syncing cause it's easier to push out a schedule change or calendar updates quickly to everyone at once, and if someone needs to reschedule they send it from their device to the cloud and everyone that was supposed to be in that meeting knows instantly it's been changed from 2:00 to 3:00 instead..
everything I mentioned here the Pixi can do with no problem. It's the super power users (like me), game players, developers etc that the pixi is below par...
If you click that tiny link below the story "HP", you'll go to the actual page where it shows a Pre + or a Pixi for the bundle.
Or click this big link: http://h71016.www7.hp.com/html/psg_082610_nb_hh1/index.asp?jumpid=em_pnl...
it blows me away at how much people trust cloud syncing. I personally am not fond of having my information on someone elses system. I agree it's convenient simple and at this point you have almost no choice but to embrace it,but I will always view desktop sync as a primary backup. Response to the person who talked about embracing cloud.
You know you can host your own personal cloud syncing without having to run through a desktop syncing client if your only concern is making a primary backup.
hello, thanks for adding to the little argument.
I had two main problems about syncing with the cloud in the past but not now. One was privacy and the other was not trusting the backup.
About privacy, currently there are backup solutions that completly encrypt your data before sending it, so you do not have naughty IT people reading your secret projects. Thats easily done from the client machine.
About trusting backups, usually those services allow you to download somewhere else your data, so you could sync it again if they complety blow it (it shouldnt happen). But the cloud service is the main gateway to sync.
For me is far more confortable a solution like this than having to install somethnig in the computer (and then having to depend phisically on that unique computer).
And of course having a sync desktop solution is not key nor important to any business. IT people are far more confortable if you can only sync your palm directly with their internal server rather than with the expendable hard disk of your business laptop (and then the latop should sync to the server anyway, so you just remove one machine there)
For me is the same change of mind than using a touchstone instead of a usb. It begins with a little thing and then change completely your habits.
Anyway, new databases offer very easy and powerfull ways to replicate. See Couchdb and what palm is doing with db8. I believe they could even open the door to a very easy peer to peer syncing with almost no server in the middle. Think BitTorrent. So is like going back to desktop syncing but with the good lesson learnt from the cloud.
I don't se anything wrong with this at all. Cereal companies have been giving aways useless toys with every box of cereal bought for a long time.
Ok, did anyone actually read the site? They aren't giving you a Pixi with the laptop they're suggesting you buy the Pixi when you buy the laptop. If you look that ad still requires you to sign up for a service plan just the same as buying the Pixi alone would require.
This isn't a free product promotion it's just a suggested bundle purchase.
Ha, ha, ha....PreCentral duped again. So, my comment above really is true. Wheaties could offer a "*Free Pixi with each box of Wheaties".
Yeah, this is REALLY HP using "...their scale to bring webOS into the business world".
More like HP using their worse than Palm marketing to bring the Pixi into the joke world. Oh, BTW did you realize that you get a "*Free Pixi with each joke told by Jay Leno and David Letterman"?
*Free Pixi with qualifying activation
Ok, you are all correct. 10's of thousands, maybe 100's of thousands of people seeing an HP advertisement and being introduced to the Pre + and the Pixi + for $49/Free with activation is a terrible thing.
How terrible it is for all those potential new Palm buyers to be enticed with an advertisement.
Is the average age on this site 12 or is it the IQ?
I vote IQ. Clearly some people are too wrapped up into their own needs to understand that there are a lot of people who might be interested in a Pre+ or Pixi+ but just don't know about them. The more free advertising they can get, the better. If they sell a few thousand phones with these laptops, that's a few thousand more users of WebOS.
If the Pixi+ had the same SOC chip as the Pre+, I might have gotten it instead. But I'm a power user. The Pixi is actually a superior device for those who like phones like the BB Curve and Bold (in all their variations). And that's the target market.
Ehh, we have a half dozen tards that insist they're not trolls, but have nothing but petty, simplistic and irrelevant things to say, every day, in every thread, like they apparently have nothing better to do. When the next device comes out, half of them will go away, the other half will be drowned out by enthusiasts.
People who bash the Pixi without ever using it should just not comment. It's a great device. It would have been better with the same internals as the Pre, but still a great device.
Unfortunately, Palm still has a ways to go before they're ready to really go after business/enterprise customers and take RIM head-on.
Try to do the following with WebOS:
1. Add an appointment to your calendar 3 weeks from now in less than 20 seconds while someone is waiting on you. Fail.
2. View your calendar while on a plane(in airplane mode). Fail.
3. Lotus Notes still has 40-45% market share in large enterprise. Try to get Lotus Notes email and contacts pushed to your device & work with WebOS Synergy. Fail.
4. Open a MS Word document attached to an email, make a simple change/correction, and re-send it. Fail.
5. Perform a simple keyword search for some important info stored on your device. It could be an appointment, a note/memo, an email, or whatever. Fail.
These are very basic needs for many business customers that Palm/HP have been aware of for a long time. Howard Stern had a Pre to play with before product launch, but couldn't use it with his enterprise email (Lotus Notes), so he went with a Blackberry. The sad thing is, most of these things were possible with the old PalmOS with the right software on the device. HP needs to use their deep pockets to get some incentives out to key partner developers to make solutions for these issues in WebOS ASAP. Yes - Giving away free devices can get more business people exposed to WebOS, but you need them to have a positive, productive experience or it will end up in a drawer.
I see people all the time carrying a Blackberry and an iPhone. There's a very good reason they carry both. Neither device does everything well that they need for work AND personal use. That is the opportunity for HP/Palm.