HP to ship 3 Million TouchPads the first year; 7-Inch Tablet coming in August 80
Inventec, HP's yet unannounced largest tablet PC manufacturer, has reached an agreement with HP to fulfill the company's TouchPad production needs by shipping 400,000-450,000 devices every month (that's 3 million this first year). While other tablet manufacturers are pulling back on their production orders to a fraction of what they were before launch, HP seems to be making their big gamble on the TouchPad even bigger. 3 million devices shipped (not sold, mind you) is not a number ignore.
Perhaps even bigger news than the number of devices shipped, though, is the type of devices being shipped. Inventec is not only the supplier for HP's 10-inch TouchPad, but will soon be shipping its 7-inch little brother as well. We could be seeing retail stores receive shipments of the 7-inch "Opal" (which is the official codename) as early as August, which would put it on schedule for the rumored September release.
With 3 million TouchPad's being shipped, another tablet device on the way, the expected Pre3 and slab phone release, and any number of notebook pc's shipping with webOS installed later this year (as Richard Kerris says, 2 every second), Todd Bradley's talk about the road to success is seen as much more than just talk by the rest of HP. If the cards are played right, this could very well be the year of webOS.
Source: CENS; Via: PreCentral Forums
80 Comments
Shipping is good. Down the line, the bigger question is how many they actually sell though.
Well, that would all depend on execution and marketing wouldn't it? So far HP seems to at least be doing a better job with the Touchpad than what Palm did with the Pre and Pixi phones. Presumably, HP will be able to manage better build quality than Palm which would minimize the number of returns. So it seems like they should at least be giving themselves a fighting chance to sell most of the devices they ship.
Personally, I'm waiting for the 7" tablet. It seems to make more sense to me as a 'tweener device between a phone and a laptop.
"wouldn't it?"
Not to me. I mean it had no bearing on me buying a Pre. I think if they put out a product that shows good when people handle it in a store and satisfies their needs better then the competition they'll buy it. Marketing is not unimportant but to me it's overblown in importance. If the product is what people want people will buy it. For example, as you say you're waiting for a 7 inch tablet cause it makes more sense to you. Nothing to do with marketing for you. I think in the end that will be a lot of people. Not saying marketing is totally unimportant. I just think failure doesn't depend on it.
...for tablets, where you buy them unsubsidized, two factors are important: price and functionality (when people have to pay their money upfront, they stop for a minute and think what they are getting for it). And by functionality, I mean also applications availability, or lack of, because for ANY computer OS system, the availability of apps is the ultimate "functionality" you might achieve with it. So unfortunately, TP is dead in the water against iPad 2, from get go.
With phones, people actually can be more impulse buyers, as they usually buy them on contracts, or get them bundled "for free", so here impulse buyers and most importantly, educated and evangelized sales force might do the trick.
DarthRepublican:
"(...)execution and marketing wouldn't it? So far HP seems to at least be doing a better job with the Touchpad than what Palm did with the Pre and Pixi phones"
Really, they are doing better? How? Maybe I am not aware about something huge from HP that is going on on the very broad scale on this planet, but to date their marketing efforts are nothing short of pathetic, to my eyes.
Damn the HP Outlet store will be overstocked in about 6 months.
Just for comparison does anyone know how many HP mini's they shipped when they first went out?
> this could very well be the year of webOS.
You mean "Christmas of webOS". Half the year is already gone, unless the delivery trucks drive at 88MPH.
Does Inventec do flux capacitors too?
+1 for the BTTF reference!
Eh, I don't need a DeLorean to know that a webOS year need not be perfectly aligned to a calendar year.. Lets start from 1 TP-launch month and look at the following 12 webOS months..
Makes too much sense
The important thing to arrive in WebOS ITALY
I'm not impressed by it at all. The build quality felt very cheap to me. The home button is an actual button and if felt pretty loose and was kind of hard to push since its odd shape and small size. I honestly thought it was going to fall off each time I pushed it. Only time will tell what else they sacrificed to ship 3 million in a year...
Dear Rhonk,
In reference to what you mentioned about the button.
...I wonder if you saw one that is a preproduction model or the final deal....
Take care,
Jay
"Ship" is a deceptive word. Sell is most important. Apple never says "we shipped", they say "we sold". For example, Apple sold 3 million ipad 1's in its first 3 months and almost 11 million in the first year.
The only question is how many will HP actually sell and how many will they "ship" to dailysteals.com for rapid discount sales?
Glenn, are you paid by some other company (beside HP) to lurk around and be negative on this site. I don't mind plain talk and I don't mind opinions that don't fit with mine, but I do mind your continual negative comments that have no revelancy. If you dislike Palm, HPalm, HP and WebOS so then don't buy them and SHUT UP.
Wade, Did you give your own comment a thumbs up?
He actually gets paid by Massengill...
Or maybe Summer's Eve?
Don't worry Wade GlennBeck is definitely a lurker. Who cares what he/she thinks. We should just ignore his/her comments. Not worth a response.
Lurkers don't post, they just lurk. Trolls are the ones who always have to post in every thread.
...wow!
-22, and there's nothing but a reason in the above post!?
OMG, do them people on P|C have some kind of "reasoning allergy"?
Truly amazin'!
For the most part, if a post is not pro-webOS, it is usually giving a thumbs down. Say something to stroke the fan-people and you gut multiple thumbs up. "Reason, logic, rational, etc." all left the building a long time ago on this site.
Hi all,
Try this on for size....what if HP has a large amount of actual solid orders on the Enterprise side of the business??????
Take care,
Jay
I think it's fairly obvious that they do.
Fairly obvious??
I can't think of any reasonable enterprise business that would order a mass lot without having any real world hands on feedback yet.
Hi, How do you know they haven't tried them...just b/c they aren't yet on sale doesn't mean that corporations haven't tried them yet.
Take care,
Jay
If they have than it's in the states. We have pretty close relations to HP and they haven't shown anything (officially) to us just yet.
I expect them to do something on that front before the end of the year. I really would like to "have to" do the acceptance tests on their devices before they ship ;)
oh yeah, and all these thousands of tech enthusiasts working in your IT departments, and evaluating them TouchPads in spades are keeping their mouths shut and their blurrycams shut off, because they are so afraid to violate company's non-disclosure agreements...
Sure.
I wouldn't say that it's obvious although they are clearly courting that market. So it's probably better to say that it would be a logical inference that a big chunk of HP's shipments will be to Enterprise customers.
So it's entirely possible that the Touchpad could flop as a consumer device but still succeed as a business device. Or it could succeed or fail in both markets. Only time will tell.
I don't know what is your experience with Enterprise sector, I work as a developer w/ Enterprise clients for good 13 years now, and one thing for sure: Enterprise is LAST to jump on something because it has "cool multitasking implementation", or some similar BS. For Enterprises to get hooked, it must (and it is not TP-specific, it applies to all tablets):
1) be a productivity enhancement tool (erm, ekhem... yeah, let's skip to the next point)
2) AND/OR cost-saving thing (well, erm, ekhem... It cannot replace a laptop, it costs more than a mainstream laptop, er... Ok, let's skip that point too)
3) enable new use cases/leverage sales. Well here at least there is a POTENTIAL for tablets, with dedicated salesforce apps, it POTENTIALLY might be better presentation tool for salespeople than a laptop is. Maybe. Potentially. In the future.
That said, I am sure there are specific use cases/enterprise sectors where they can benefit hugely from tablet form factor. Problem is, it is not a MAINSTREAM, and it will not be a mainstream for a while. And because it is not mainstream, Enterprises will not subscribe to be a beta-testers for them, ain't going to happen.
So WHY, WHY & WHY HP has not rebooted webOS under their banner starting with Pre 3 phone, six months ago - when they actually COULD bundle them phones with computer hardware they are shipping to their Enterprise customers in truckloads, thus achieving easy adoption and sales numbers - is beyond me. Why they are trying to hoodwink everybody willing to listen, that a Tablet is an Enterprise thing - is beyond me.
The 'coming soon' page on carphonewarehouse.com had the Pre 3 listed on Friday (available August). Now the page has been pulled. It seems the Pre 3 can no longer be pre-ordered on play.com, with just a form to be notified of availability.
Does this mean the Pre 3 is delayed?
What does your Pre3 question have to do with this story? There is a Pre3 section in the forum.
Man, people are trippin over this Pre3
and Sprint! Sigh..
I got mine pre-ordered, I mean... I'm going to die waiting another week after it's released for shipping, but yay!
"...this could very well be the year of webOS."
Be still my heart.
I"m looking forward to a year from now when the Apple faithful stop snickering at my WebOS devices and nod in envious approval that there's a new sherrif in town.
Man I hope you're right! I have so many Ipod/Ipad/Iphone friends who look at me like I'm nuts, or maybe a retarded child to be pitied. They all agree that my Pre is an amazing device and works in many ways better than their Apple product, but without hype they won't even consider making a change.
Old Palm didn't have the resourses to create hype, but Daddy HP does! Lets hope to hear and see some real bragging!
Wade, you should avoid using very sensitive terms like "retarded" in your posts. I know you are the self appointed defender of P|C, so I would expect a little more from you than the absolute ignorant use of that word.
EDIT: This comment gets a thumbs down? Really are people on here that sad that you think it's ok to use garbage language like this? There are a lot of people that would not share your enthusiasm for making fun of them.
Get a life.
Yes your comment gets a thumbs down. More importantly, you get a thumbs down. Just go away ok?
Just run my "Smartphone Challenge" against them, that will shut them up promise. 34/34 Wins for my trusty Pre so far that no one wants to play anymore... :D
They say things like "You must have some super bookmarks on that phone cause you pull things up faster than anyone else." Then I show them webOS's true power and they concede the multitasking OS is nice, and then say "We still have more apps." LOL. That's all theve got against me and Bessie at this point. ;)
Freight. Train.
You can't stop it.
I was really looking forward to getting one but after actually holding one I realized it just feels so cheap. Its a tad bulky and heavy too. Damn it HP. Way to get my hopes up.
Did you not get your point across in the first post saying the exact same thing?
Rumored slab phone looks so much like Samsung's Nexus Prime.
3 days to repost from BGR and webosroundup. Come on guys, you used to be my go to for webOS news. Someone needs to step it up. Seriously.
Go to webosroundup.com. They are on top of their game.
Probably precentral is too busy evaluating their touchpad. WebOSRoundup basicly said they have theirs!
hp needs to spend a little more on TLC if it plans to bring the opal to market too. if it is made of the same cheap materials as the touchpad, it will be sorely disappointing, as it shows their inability to properly design and innovate a product. it must be thinner, lighter, and better materials. they don't need a physical button on the front, just like they didnt need one on the pre plus. they can have a led ring below the surface. make it smooth sleek clean lines, and gushing of smart industrial design. the reason apple succeeds at what it does is visually their products are so appealing that customers cannot wait to get their hands on them and own them. they are that good. now how can HP take a similar mentality and introduce a feeling of worth to their products finally...
Hi all,
I realize were missing something in all of this...they are shipping these do we know if any of these are actual firm orders from the enterprie side of the business. Some of whom may actually have used or at least saw a TouchPad.
Take care,
jay
Jay,
I have to believe HP has big plans WITHIN their own company to have a HUGE amount of their employees on this device. This would show the world that they believe in it SO much, they are all using it for their own business. Couple this with even one or two major companies they have already lined up (companies that want to use tablets but won't go to the ipad because of the enterprise-non-friendly iOS) and you have several million TP's sold already, without even one consumer tablet sold.
Let's hope so, anyway! :)
tim
Dear Tim, good point, take care, Jay
Greetings,
I'm sure all 3 million are Enterprise sales and have already been paid for by all these Enterprise companies that need Enterprise touchpads in imaginary Enterpriseland.
Thanks in advance!
Glenn
I hate you...
this made me laugh. dont like the word hate but still made me laugh
That's sad, I rather enjoy your comments and think you are a great member of precentral. How may other people feel this way about me? Please not vito-andolini. I like him to. And Roy, I went out of my way to compliment you the other day.
Very sad right now.
I hate you, but you do make me laugh. LoL.
This made me laugh more. lol
when do you graduate from high school?
70 years from now, when he goes back to get his GED after he realizes he wasted his life.
Do you really have to be a snarky b astard all the time? Jay was simply asking a question. You don't need to be a jerk and insert your trolling, spiteful nose into every conversation and be completely unhelpful.
Yes, HP has done things I don't like either. But I don't go around acting like a child taking every opportunity to say they are a terrible company and they are going to fail. In addition, did you really have to go out of your way to mock Jay's style of commenting as well? That's truly the sign of an immature individual with no motive other than to troll and piss people off.
Grow up or leave.
To everyone else: don't worry, I won't feed the troll anymore, but I had to at least say that.
To Jay: we of course don't know how many of these are orders for enterprises, but you can bet that at least some of them are. The other thing to remember is that people in enterprises are consumers too. If they have to use one for work, they are still getting it in their hands and experiencing it. If they then see it on the shelf at Best Buy, they may be more inclined to pick one up for themselves or (if they like it) at least talk about it with other people.
Roy, no need to get personal. If you like how HP has run their business and how they have treated you as a customer, that is fine.
I, however, demand much more from a company than to be treated like a POS.
All this enterprise talk is laughable. No company is just going to go all in with a product that has not even been released yet. This is reality.
I just wish you didn't have to do the name calling part. I already forgave you though and will enjoy reading your future contributions! Thanks!
The name calling was inappropriate and I am sorry about that. I commented while angry and shouldn't have done that. I saw your above post and I appreciate that you went out of your way to compliment me.
With that in mind, I do feel that the point of my comment stands, however. The remark you made was also inappropriate and - as I read it - written in a way that was mocking Jay. I understand that you dislike the way HP has handled Palm and the existing webOS user base and don't begrudge you your point of view (trust me, I don't see everything through rose-colored glasses). I am happy to converse with you about it, however what I've seen from your posts is increasingly negative comments that seem to lean more toward bashing HP than anything else and that makes it difficult have the conversation. People come to this site because they are, for the most part, enthusiastic about webOS and it can be grating to see the constant negativity.
Again, I apologize for the name calling in my original comment, it was inappropriate and unnecessary.
If they get overstocked, will they drop the price to clear their stocks for Christmas? SO do I buy early or wait still a little longer again?
I'm waiting a while, but only because we had to replace the windshield in my wife's jeep a few weeks ago :(
Maybe I'll get lucky and see a price drop by the time I save up a little TouchPad fund again.
Take home message: Never mix wifes jeep windshield fund with little TouchPad fund...
Jay, its a production unit. However, I'm wondering if its just the same problem as before with the original Pre and Pre Plus. I had 4 Pre Pluses and the one I have now has no problems. Had everything from sun spots right out of the box to broken screens in my pocket. I've dropped my current one several times and the screen is in tact and working great. I'm sure things will get better for it. After all, it is there first run.
Jay, I think a lot of them are being shipped to retailers. The Best Buy near me already has all the coming soon signs and like 6 of those security posts around it. I think they're trying to flood retailers with displays of them so it seems like they have a huge presence. I mean Apple has huge tables and end caps right near the HP display so it seems like they're going to war inside retailers. It makes sense tho because I'm pretty sure the iPad 2 is still sold out here
Wow HP is failing so miserably. I know exactly what HP, a billion dollar corporation needs to do because I live in my parents basement and have a diploma in general arts.
Then why haven't you submitted your resume yet??
fantastic
Good news and bad... That means that most likely there will be a price drop or incentives at other stores before long to try to clear out these devices! I can't stand to wait any longer but I am sure that I will regret placing mine on preorder with HP!
I SURE HOPE I AM WRONG!!!!
Can 6,999,999 units NOT have the cheap looking plastic back? lol :)
Well, I doubt we will have to worry about price. I foresee nice discounts in the near future.
This is HP putting its scale to work. Lets hope the gamble pays off.
I just placed my reservation at my local BB (the OC CA). No displays were up yet and RSS says they don't have any in the store as of yesterday. The 3 million number sounds encouraging. Can't wait! Hopefully its in the store by the 1st.
Those who are new to this site, expect to hear from the naysayers. But l As with any purchase, you have to see for yourself. There definitely isn't a shortage of the haters here. Don't let the Glenn becks of the world dissuade you. This is community is like nothing else.
heyguydaq, did you see how many were coming in?
The TouchPad will be the first tablet to really give serious competition to the iPad in the consumer space. In enterprise, it'll set the standard. I really and truly believe this. HP is a contender.
...faithfuls have that comfort over agnostic people, they do not have to bother with reasoning. They just believe, and that's it.
Unfortunately, I have this discomfort of being agnostic, and I must see a reason/explanation before I believe, that pig will fly.
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