HP ThinkBeyond Developer Event Liveblog! 30

Hope you guys get more info about this.

ok, the marketing/sales folks have had their say, and I am impressed, but now we should see the real key part - HP needs apps in their ecosystem, and this shows they realize how critical this is.

Waiting for some Enyo magic...

Dieter did you read what Ruby told engadget. There will be NO UPDATE OTA OR OTHERWISE.

this is exciting I'm At the event. Dieter is front row I'm at the back hopefully they give out developer devices :)

I'm five rows from the back, center center section. Dude with the galaxy tab and fedora.

So no Opra moment

Just read on engadget.com. Jon Rubinstein goes against original promise for an update for all Palm phones and says that older models, basically anything not announced today will not get webOs 2.0 update. Time to switch, HP wont be on sprint.

That event was fairly underwhelming.

The problem is not about what was shown - but what was not shown.

HP shouldn't have hyped that event - and then utterly fail to WOW us. There was no surprise at all - except for the unfortunate about-turn re upgrades for old Pre/Pixi (-/+).

Tablet - we knew for half a year that a tablet would be coming - HP said from day 1 that's what they are mainly interested in. IMHO this would be the best tablet on the market today - we'll see how it compares in Q3.
We had rumors about a small device for weeks.

The Veer is fine IMHO - but nothing to brag about.

The Pre 3 is close to perfect for me (assuming decent battery life) - but not enough to create a big bang.

Kindle - nice, Video by Roxio - nice. Touchstone - not that new, info about its new features are a couple months old though.

I expected something like a "webos 2.x OTA updates are pushing from our servers as we speak". Instead we got a retraction and vague hint at "something special". Why the "something special" is not announced at the same time as the upgrade-retraction blows my mind. Weird marketing decision.

I also expected (in addition to a Veer-like device and hopefully something the the Pre 3) an announcement of a 4" slab device with webos - or a horizontal slider at least. Not because I want that for myself but because the demand is there.

Further I expected announcements about a large number of new software partners, new in-house apps released today, new carrier agreements, more countries covered. And new accessories like car touchstone.

Above where my (reasonable I think) "expectations" - based on HP brings global resources to Palms ingenuity, what the market has been clamoring for and the fact that HP hyped up this event.

Integration with printers and other HP products is nice and all and one day might actually be cool and stuff. But for now it's still only so much marketing bla-bla.

About the tablet: Glossy - really? That looks great on marketing clips and for a few seconds after you unwrap it. Then it's a PITA. I'd pay extra for a non-glossy back. No gesture on Touchpad? Why not? It does have plenty of bezel and it's a distinguishing feature - plus something that's now expected from existing customer base.

No virtual keyboard on the phones? That makes 0 sense. Myself I prefer the slider keyboard - but providing the option costs close to nothing and would shut up a lot of naysayers.

In short don't hype an event - and then deliver less than expected and fail to WOW.

What astounds me is that they had that clever little xmas verse where they said they listened and know what people ask for. How can they have listened and expected yesterdays event not to get a lukewarm reaction - at best.
Half the event was people talking about how great HP is - instead of wowing us with actual announcements showing us how great they are (100 new apps today, webos 2 today, tens of new software partners today, several new countries covered by spring).

What on earth kept them from giving a Pre 2 to every dev attending the event? (besides sending one to the most active homebrew devs and a couple each to the top 50 mobile app producers). Plus a 50% rebate coupon for the Touchpad. Plus announce a third app competition for webos 2/3.

The UI and multi-tasking are still the best on the market. Current hardware (Pre 2) seems decent and there's a lot of good about the Touchpad and Pre 3. But it still feels like Palm when it lacked resources last year. Heck - anybody who watched last years Palm CES announcements will remember that there was more buzz then.

sigh

Dear Mr. Apotheker,

As a long time fan of the Palm product line, I viewed with reserved excitement HP's acquisition of Palm. I saw this as the best hope for keeping alive what I believe is the best mobile OS in the marketplace. I have been using the same Palm Pre that I got on launch day nearly two years ago and in technology terms, that is forever. But I recognized that HP would need to time to bring Palm in to their corporate structure and to develop and release new products. I have sat on my hands and resisted the new iPhones, and Evo's and iPads as I was a true believer in the Palm of the future. I waited patiently for yesterday's "Big" webOS Announcement event expecting that I would be able to upgrade shortly thereafter.

I must say I was underwhelmed. No products immediately available; No firm dates for availability; No upgrades for existing customers; And no more Palm name! It's your company, I suppose you can do whatever you fancy, but seems a terrible marketing stumble to me to squander the cache' of a well respected 20 plus year brand!

Today, I will purchase an Apple iPad. While it may not be the best OS out there, it has one glaring advantage over your product; It is THERE! As I write this on my HP Compaq 8510p, I remember how old and dated it is beginning to feel. I may just take a look at those MacBook Pros again.