Big Talk from HP Europe: TouchPad will be "Better than #1" with thousands of big name apps 84
In a world where the iPad currently dominates the tablet market, and the many models of Android tablets following behind at a fairly great distance, the HP TouchPad is going to need both a strong marketing push and some really stellar features/apps to put it in direct competition with other tablets. While it's getting some big talk from other developers and tech-bloggers around the world who are anticipating its release, no one has spoken so highly and bluntly about the device as Eric Cador, Senior VP of Personal Systems Group of the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), had at a recent Press Conference.
He's quoted saying, “In the PC world, with fewer ways of differentiating HP’s products from our competitors, we became number one; in the tablet world we’re going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus.” Hmmm... Big words there, eh Cador?
Those aren't just empty words, though, as he does give us a taste at why he believes HP will dominate this market (just as Leo Apotheker has). Not only will HP be releasing the TouchPad with partners like Last.FM, Sky and The Guardian (that's news to us), but another HP spokesperson also went on to say that the TouchPad would arrive in the hands of consumers with "thousands of other apps" available in the Catalog.
If all goes according to the spoken plan, Cador and the rest of us could very well see a device that attracts both corporate employees and consumers alike (because they are the same people). But while we can appreciate the strong sentiments from Cador about the TouchPad being bigger than #1 in the tablet market, let's hope he didn't jinx it by speaking too soon. We still need to see that plan unravel, after all. If those three companies he listed are involved, though, that's three more big European brands that we'll get to add to our list of TouchPad launch partners.
Hey, the more the merrier, right?
Source: The Telegraph (UK)
84 Comments
He didn't say the TouchPad specifically will be better than #1. He said they will become better than #1 in the tablet world. Big difference!
Um, care to elaborate?
yeah now that you mention it that doesn't really make logical sense. How can you come in front of first place. If you're the top there's nobody higher. They may be number 1 but i'm not sure it's logically possible to be better then number one.
Good point, but it begs three follow-up questions:
Is HP pushing any other tablets?
Are they still selling the HP Slate?
Is HP able to differentiate itself (as was part of the point) with an OS that is commonly available?
To be fair, HP has already shown they have the Android Tablet/printer combo market CRUSHED. Surely, it's only a matter of "weeks" before they have the TouchPad/printer combo market on lock down, right?
"In the PC world, with fewer ways of differentiating HP’s products from our competitors, we became number one; in the tablet world we’re going to become better than number one.”
In the PC world, you were selling PCs with an OS installed on them, which has support of millions of developers, Microsoft, and massive mindshare.
In the tablet market, you are (not)selling a mediocre hardware, with a price tag of the market leader (or significantly higher than numerous better-specced Androids), with the OS that no one gives two sh1tes about (that is your main differentiator right now).
Seriously, how clueless CEO can be? And the likes of him are supposed to lead WebOS to the world dominance? Fat chance.
You're on the right track..
Those TouchPad speakers better be the ****
msg to HP: more product, less talk
Seems like they are saying everything but a date. I really would like to know the date already so i can figure out my summer vacation plans.
It's coming in June.
Wanna Bet?
August is my guess, launched without OS complete so they will promise the update "in the coming weeks", that will actually arrive around November.
The CEO said June for the Tablet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA4Jk_-iWvE
There's not reason to not believe him or too think August.
Maybe because they have a horrible history of never meeting their launch dates?
Really? Examples please. I've been following HP for years and they never announce launch dates until the week before.
Lets see...
- Palm Pre- launch date (3-4 months late)
- Various WebOS 1.x Updates (app store, Video, etc... came much later than anticipated.)
- WebOS 2.0 Update (announced in the coming months October 2010)
- Flash for Pre- was promised to be ready months after launch (still waiting 2 years later on my pre-)
- "Make it right in the coming week" announcement (Feb 2011 - still waiting)
- Pre2 (available 4 months after it was announced)
Not sure about HP dates of PCs, since only losers use PC/windows products.
How's that, MR. I follow HP?
Those are all Palm, all the time, before the company was bought. I *don't* follow HP release dates, and I agree that Palm has disappointed in the past, but this is HP talking, not Palm.
Coming in June never actually means June, though... sorry if I seem bitter, but I've been let down by Palm for too long...
No more Palm. It is HP.
I'm just happy that there is more chatter than normal. It used to be I'd come to this site everyday only to see 1 new story as we all sat around waiting. Now we get several a day. And who knows what we'll get once these devices are actually out. Let him talk up HP an their tablets. Its the only way WebOS will succeed. I've got my Verizon rep on speedial so that as soon as the Pre3 is out I will have one in my hands. Can we skip the rest of May so June can be here?
Yeah, you usually when this much buzz starts happening that means an announcement is coming soon. I bet we hear something soon. Like within the next couple weeks.
That's funny on multiple levels. Because of all the "in the coming weeks" stuff from HP and because "within the next couple weeks" puts us squarely in the middle of June. :-)
More talk from HPalm. Meanwhile my Pre- is running 1.4, and has been abandoned by HP. It looks like I am now cutoff from future apps since I don't get the HP app store and my phone will not support the new apps.
You can talk all you want about being #1, but you treat your customers like **** and take your original base for granted. iPhone will be on Sprint soon, that is bad for them.
Here's a clue, apple didn't just come out and say "hey we will be #1" and it just happened. They created a very satisfied customer base with great product after great product. They treated their customers with appreciation. And have been rewarded.
Dear Richard Kerris, thanks for nothing! Saying your are #1 and being #1 are two very different things. The fact is the only #1 you are is 1% of the interest from potential cell phone buyers, and that is not a good #1 to be.
OMG! Quit whinning about your Pre- not getting an update or being abandoned. Every electronic device has End of Life cycle. Use the **** out of it and when it dies, upgrade to a newer supported product. It's not that hard to figure out.
I have a Pre+ and my wife has a Pixie+ that we only got in July '10. We haven't gotten the use out of our phones like a majority of users on here. When they no longer function, we'll get a newer phone.
End of life cycle, 12 months into a product? HP must love you, there is a Sucker born every minute!
I would knot care so much if I was not promised by HPalm that I would get the 2.0 update and flash (which was promised before the phone even went on sale).
I wish I could start a company where I **** all over my customers and they come back begging for more like you! I would be rich! Get lost you WebOS Fanboy!
Congrats Richard Kerris, here is another fanboy that will blindly follow you as you lead him off a cliff!
Dittos to what Rambo said
Ahem. Tier. Not tear. That was a little weird.
I think HP/Palm abandoned him and didn't offer him anything to upgrade to on Sprint.
Just so you know, the difference between a Pre- and a Pre+ in terms of usability is night and day.
Customers become really ANGRY when a product is abandoned before the 2-year contract ends.
No one signed a two year contract with Palm. Besides, one of the perks Sprint offered was being able to upgrade in one year. Remember that Premier program? Apparently Palm didn't get the memo.
I would not go so far as to call them "great products"
Apple knew/knows how to market, they have great marketing, nothing more. Apple will only continue to add additional functionality and features when they see/hear of a competitor coming out with something better.
Example. - Copy and paste (took them 2 years to add to the iOS) just so happened to come out just before WebOS release.
Yet somehow Apple was able to convince people that it was the newest feature for a "smartphone"
Yes, the veer is a great product, so great that not even HP is pushing it. So great that it is in the back corner of the ATT stores, and the sales people know nothing about it. So great that it has been reviewed by many tech sites and is a 2.5 star phone.
actually when i bought my veer they had 2 on display in 2 sections of the store. Both were very noticable and not fake floor demos which was suprising given that anytime i went into a sprint store i just seen an empty space for the pre- and a fake phone in place of the pixi. The veer is actually the most out in the open webOS phone right now.
Hey Rambo, why don't you buy an iphone and go troll another site?
Yes, let's forget about the way they took smartphone web browsing, device build quality and media playing to another level. Nothing great about that.
It's all mind control and marketing....
I think we can safely say that HP won't have great marketing. Let's be honest, we can only say that about Droid (other than the iphone) which Verizon pitched. That took some major investment and a little Star Wars licensing from Lucas.
I don't think HP will be bringing any pop culture icon cross branding to brands like Veer, Pre, or Touchpad. So that's off the table.
"I don't think HP will be bringing any pop culture icon cross branding to brands like Veer, Pre, or Touchpad. So that's off the table. "
Uh, ever hear of this guy Dr. Dre? I hear he's like one of the greatest rappers of all time or something. This other guy Jay-Z too. Then again, there's this snowboarder\skater dude Shaun-something who's supposed to be pretty great too...
/smh
The HP TouchPad will be better than #1 - in the coming months!!
Just you wait and see!!
Trying to be better than last might be more realistic. It's a marathon right? At least that's what HP says last month. Now they'll be better than number one which is like number 1/2 or something. I guess this is all according to the big plan..
I am just glad the world didn't come to an end this weekend so we can all be around to see the webOS line of products. :-)
At HP's pace we might not make it due to old age.
Also read :
http://allthingsd.com/20110523/hps-twynergy-app-gleans-patterns-from-a-s...
One paragraph from the above said article:
McKinney also used his talk with the crowd of Maker Faire hackers to show off Palm’s TouchPad WebOS tablet, due to ship this summer, controlling a fan and lamp and monitoring temperature, all wirelessly. McKinney said that HP needs the help of all the “makers” out there to develop cool apps.
Jaysus, and why the feck one would need WebOS device to do all that maajic "controlling" stuff???? How many hundreds of apps for remote control everything that is web enabled you can find in AppStore or for Droids out there? Or maybe you are trying to convince me that I will sooner see a WebOS equipped fan/lamp, than Android equipped one, with Android open source licensing it to every hardware manufacturer interested?
What, HP will start selling TVs, to get WebOS on board of "your TV"?
What a piece of nonsense again.
Sigh. Here's an app someone was working on LAST YEAR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3TPRUzk8Qk&feature=related
Here is that ability for android and ios: http://thedroidguy.com/2011/05/control-you-light-bulbs-using-android-or-...
Here is an old iOS app for that: http://www.martin.com/product/product.asp?product=iosmaxremote
I have been controlling my home alarm system from my Android phone for more than a year now.
Is it really that impressive that webOS is "just" getting around to it?
I think this all depends on creative definition of "better". Because realistically, I don't think it's going to catch either the apple or google juggernaut. Which means that #3 seems the most realistic prediction (to me). And depending on how you define "better" 3 is better than 1.
#3 is probably something that Microsoft/Nokia will more likely be able to achieve.
Well, they have no designs on tablets. Windows 8 will obviously run on them, but not Windows Phone...so....technically...they could get to number three in the tablet world just by launching the TouchPad.
Boom/
LOL, reminds me of...
"We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in." - Ed Colligan '06
"You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later." - Roger McNamee '09
"I'm confident that even the defectors of the WebOS community will be back once they see the breadth of product coming out of HP in the future." - Rahul Sood '10
"I hope one day people will say ‘this is as cool as HP,’ not ‘as cool as Apple’." - Leo Apotheker '11
"HP will stop making announcements for stuff it doesn’t have. When HP makes announcements, it will be getting ready to ship." - Leo Apotheker '11
Point: Talk (big or small) is cheap.
It's not just about Apps. Features are important too. If it doesn't have HDMI or any kind of video out, it won't be attractive to any enterprise clientele.
I keep hearing the HDMI thing being mentioned. Is there really that important to enterprise customers? -- Honest question.
yes.. For presentations on a projector.. I for one don't understand why they didnt include this functionality.... Major mistake
Short answer NO. Now a TP that is connected to the office land and a projector connected to that lan could be a winner in the enterprise zone.
They've demonstrated the Citrix app on the touchpad controlling the desktop computer. If that computer were connected to the projector physically, then, technically the Touchpad would be connected to the projector, right?
Problem solved! People love buying new equipment that requires workarounds...
If I have a desktop/laptop computer connected to a projector, I would most likely NOT bother bringing a tablet into the mix just to do a presentation. At that point the tablet is just a remote and there are remotes already available for these situations. Tablet to PC to projector is just an unproductive hack.
Tablet to Projector (especially via wifi/bluetooth) is a more desirable use case.
Would you trust webOS while up in front of the crowd getting ready to do a presentation. I'd be leery of using any tablet in that regard. But especially an unproven tablet OS by a maker lacking their own office suite.
At this point in time, I don't trust webOS to do ANYTHING until it proves itself in the market. I had enough headaches doing simple things when I used a Pre.
My comment on Tablet to Projector was about "tablets" in general and if any of them can wirelessly connect to a projector, I consider that a cool feature. I don't know how useful it would be (I'm not convinced people are going to hold a relatively heavy tablet to control a projector for an hour-long presentation when they can use one of those tiny remotes that's been around for ages). Laying the tablet down on a desk and controlling the presentation there could fly. This is why I asked the question near the top of this thread about whether this sort of thing is really a selling point to the enterprise.
Good post..
I think wireless connection to a projector would be cool indeed.
I'm just curious why the app number keeps shifting. McArthur says tenS of thousands. This HP rep says "thousands".
If you're going to be "number one plus", you have to keep your bragging straight.
What's more, considering there are already 6 or 7 thousand apps in the app catalog, promising to ship with "thousands" adds NOTHING to the equation.
I love how HP seems to send its execs out to talk the most when they really have nothing to say.
Don't have any hardware to launch in the next six months? Announce an event at CES! Think Big! Think Small! Think Beyond!
We're going to connect everything together. Here's a tiny smartphone in black or white case.
We're going to be better than #1. Here's a fat tablet in shiny black plastic. Here's a bigger version of our not-so-popular smartphone with specs from last fall.
I think if HP wants to tout "Synergy" as a big part of WebOS' appeal, they need to start with PUBLIC RELATIONS SYNERGY. Several talking heads with no coordinated message, product ship date, or even unified vision. It's a mess. They can't even agree on how big this new "avalanche of apps" is gonna be.
Ouch. Acidic, this one.
Pre died... Ordered a Nexus S. I'll be back for sure if Sprint offers a replacement.
Bring the hardware HP... Fast!
Talk is cheap HP. Let's see some actual product in our hands before the chest pounding starts. A release date for the Pre3 and Touchpad would be a good start.
Indeed. It's already end of May. HP = Huff & Puff ?
mystical, dude
Is this a technology exec or a pro wrestler? Give me a break.
One thing Pre users should know and accept is the fact that being "better" doesn't necessarily equate to having the most market share. In my opinion, the WebOS is the best mobile operating system yet it has a very small market share. If HP is promising a better tablet + eco system, I don't think it's far fetched that they can easily become number one given that the WebOS is already superior to the others. If they can improve the overall experience (which they have the power to do so) they can easily get to third place in terms of market share and have the "best" tablet there is.
Another thing the Pre users should know and accept is the fact that having a few cool features doesn't necessarily equate to being "better".
I keep hearing how webOS is "superior" but having used Android, iOS and webOS extensively, I haven't found that to be the case at all. It does have some plusses, but at the end of the day, I can do much more with both Android and iOS as compared to webOS.
Judging from the market numbers, I may not be the only one of this opinion. So I DO think it's far fetched that they can "easily" become number one.
"Judging from the market numbers, I may not be the only one of this opinion."
I think you missed my point which is that having the most market shares doesn't necessarily mean that a product is better than it's competition.
I can't say I have used iOS or Android extensively but I have used both and each time I use and iOS or Android device, I increasingly notice how how much better the WebOS is.
I am not sure how much more you could do with a stock iOS or Android device that you couldn't do with a WebOS device. Yes WebOS lacks "superior" apps I am not denying this, however, that does not mean it is not a better operating system.
If HP can get the apps going along with everything else they seem to be hinting at, I don't see why they won't have the best overall tablet.
I didn't miss your point. I was pointing out that it goes both ways. Market share may not mean something is the best, but neither does having a few cool features mean something is "superior".
On whether there are things that can be done on iOS or Android that can't be done on webOS...yes, there are...but webOS is getting there. Keep in mind that in order to have "superior apps", as you've put it, one of the things you need is an OS and APIs that allows for them. For example, until recently, voice-activated apps were not possible on webOS.
webOS has a ways to go. It's OK is you think it is superior; I simply disagree with you.
All of you people (probably still living in your mom's basement) who think you know better than the exec's at HP crack me up.
Yep, HP became the giant company it is today by being led by a bunch of buffoons.
I guess all of you are on the cusp of launching your fortune 500 company?
Or you are already leaders of very successful companies?
I doubt either is true.
"arrive with...thousands of big name apps"
Good.
RAMSES is the number 1.
His arms are the number 1.
His legs are the number 1.
His eyes are the number 1.
LOL, Nacho Libre ;) Love that movie.
Yeah,,,
"I ate some bugs, I ate some grass, I used my hand to wipe my...... "
Classic Comedy!
As per my post way down below, we gotta get some comedy into HP's advertising! Viral & Funny!
I may be disappointed right now at the level that webos is on meaning it is still struggling to show it self out there. However, I do not have any doubt that it will do much better in the near future under the umbrella of HP. HP is # 11 on the fortune 500 companies list (Apple for ios is # 35 and Google Android is # 92). That means, they are capable of doing what those other companies cannot afford to do. I also know that HP bought Palm specifically for webos and they have very high hopes on the mobile os. We we forget to realize is that Palm was a small company struggling to survive before they was acquired by HP. It is less than a year since the deal was closed and HP do need some time to do all the adjustments and integrations to start the push. I'm sure when things start moving, they will move positively and at a good pace. I don't thing they will do things prematurely because of us the very few webos fans. They will do things to bring in more customers and profit for them.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/full_list/
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/206.html
now here is a sane and reasonable post.
Wow a whole 29 apps in the app catalog, you got a long ways to go to "tens of thousands" haha!
Hmm, thought that was an old picture of Chevy Chase for moment - ah ha! thats what we need, top comedy guys dissing iphone/android to show how WebOS rocks! You know, got an iphone, got android, THIS is the way to get girls, get a Pre3. Or .... When size matters, get a Veer (look to camera, hold up Veer, wiggle eyebrows!)
This is the slowest death I've ever seen. But on the flipside it's a valiant effort to stay alive. However, no matter how long you keep MeMaw (WebOS) on life support......well.
I agree with the above comments, talk is talk. What I'd like to see some Veer sales numbers to help me understand what chances we have of seeing MeMaw walk again.