HP training channel partners of TouchPad sales, working with corporate developers 75
Sat, 18 Jun 2011 9:31 am EDT 
There’s just one competitor that stands in the face of the HP TouchPad’s success, it’s the iPad. HP knows that, and they’re making sure their commercial channel partners (resellers) know how to sell the webOS tablet. Said Tom LaRocca, HP Vice President of Marketing and Strategy (Solution Partners Organization, Americas) to CRN: “We’re now meeting literally every day with at least one partner doing face-to-face training around TouchPad and webOS.”
Accordingly, HP is going to launch a series of road show events next month that will train their channel partners on how to position the TouchPad against the competition. Some of HP’s partners have experience with the iPad, but the majority don’t have mobility experience and are rushing to get ready for the onslaught of tablets due in the coming months.
When it comes to HP’s corporate channel partners (the ones that set up solutions for large corporations), they’ve generally got no tablet experience whatsoever, or have cobbled together iPad solutions when their customers ask for them. But they know that tablets are a growing market and hold potential for massive growth. “We’re focusing on helping partners deliver mobility across a platform in the enterprise data center for customers that will be looking for one,” LaRocca said.
Of course, there are plenty of enterprise solutions in the works for the TouchPad, most notably a powerful Citrix receiver app. HP is also working with enterprise solutions developers to enable the development of other enterprise-grade apps for the TouchPad, an effort made easier by the HTML5 web tech that webOS apps are based on. While that’s a refrain we’ve heard for the past two years with not much to show for it, HP does have a better argument here: most of the organizations they’re working with have a web development person on staff, while their mobile apps are farmed out. That web developer on staff can, conceivably, learn to develop for the TouchPad more easily than they would building native apps for platforms like Android and iOS. HP seems optimistic about their chances in building a stronger corporate ecosystem for the TouchPad, and the fact that they’re actually working with these partners and corporate developers to make that happen is making us optimistic too.
Source: CRN
75 Comments
a pre 3 beats edition would be awesome red back lit keypad red beats logo
"there are plenty of enterprise solutions in the works for the TouchPad, most notably a powerful Citrix receiver app."
seller:touchpad has citrix reciever.
buyer:what about ipad?
seller: hmm, actually ipad has also.
buyer:what about other apps? splashtop,quickoffice with editing capability???
seller: not yet, in the coming months...
Buyer:then why the h**l are you suggesting me touchpad over ipad?
Reply-
On launch, the iPad had none of that either.
Furthermore, HP's goal is to have WebOS on all of their printers, computers, tablets, and phones. Wouldn't it be great if you only had to purchase ONE app instead of one for each device?
Unlike Apple, HP already has touchscreen computers and laptops and has for 4 years now. When WebOS is put on them wouldn't it be great to get a similar touch experience on all of your devices?
Oh, .. yes, that is in the future plans, but now if you have a Pre3 when it comes out next month, you'll be able to do things like touch-to-share, answer your phone on your TouchPad and get the best audio sound than any other brand on your TouchPad with BeatsAudio.
So yes, while HP isn't going to give you every feature on launch, neither did any other company. But what you do get is an amazing experience and to get that experience you don't have to be one of those iPeople. And that alone should be worth getting the Touchpad, right?
"On launch, iPad had none of that either"
You seriously believe anyone but a denizen of these forums would say that to someone making a comparison between TouchPad and iPad?
REALLY?
Also, you're going to sell them a product based on HP's GOALS?
That's going to be an ace pitch for developers: "Hey, you know how on other platforms you can make money with one version of your app for tablets, and one optimized for phones. Then, you can get more money selling it on the Windows 8 app store when it comes out or maybe the Intel app store? Well, with us we expect you to put in the work to make your app work on every form factor, but you should only get one stream of revenue. Hey wait!..."
I completely agree with mikah912 on this one. Who cares what the iPad 1 or 2 had at launch. It's out and has been out.
Day one, the TouchPad is not a business device, it's just another consumer toy at this stage.
"On launch, the iPad had none of that either."
why is it really hard to accept that like it or not, ipad has created a new category. until ipad there were "touchscreen windows machines", that was all. now they are benefiting from the category which they created.
"Unlike Apple, HP already has touchscreen computers and laptops and has for 4 years now." yes touchscreen windows machines :)
don't get me wrong, i'm still a pre+ user but i'm just sick of stupid statements made from hp people. they are just talking... nothing else.
I think drawing up the battle against the ipad isn't very realistic. Many businesses didn't see the need to upgrade to windows 7 from XP.
Convincing these businesses that they need tablets of any kind will be the real battle. The competition is windows which btw is HP's bread n butter.
Now in consumer land (such as in BB, walmart, etc), feel free to have the ipad vs touchpad battles. But this is apple's domain. HP is doing some right things though getting the display tables and what not. But Apple has seen this need for years and has quietly set up mini Apple stores inside of stores.
It's best to not even have this consumer battle. Just think of webOS at year one and hope they can sell enough to continue to develop it. If it's a battle you want, then HP would have to commit much more to it.
The real problem is leveraging existing or new services. Perhaps it they had acquired Skype or Netflix or..something.. Or at least announce some partnerships on the consumer side. I'd like to see more serious commitment where you could feel a bit confident that they won't pull the plug on webOS.
"I think drawing up the battle against the ipad isn't very realistic."
That's what I had always thought, until my aunt's company gave her an iPhone, or my HP university said they had iPads available for demoing at the university to see if they will get them for the whole campus.
It has taken them a while, but Apple is trying to move into the corporation market, where PC has always dominated, particularly HP and Dell. If HP can provide a reliable tablet (which they will hopefully be doing with the TouchPad) with capabilities that they need and really pushing the fact that they can design apps for the company IN HOUSE, they will have a lot of places sold.
Customer: Hi, I wanted to get a car with seatbelts
Sales rep: Our cars don't have those yet, but in the coming months...
Customer: But my friend's Ford Focus has one
Sales rep: Well, Ford's cars didn't have seatbelts when they first came out, so the products are comparable.
Customer: ... I'm getting what my friend has.
that's like arguing you don't need AC in you're car cause when the model T launched it didn't have AC. Nobody buying a car now cares.
Good point. I already have an HP Computer. I want a Pre3 with Beats by Dre and a Touchpad with Beats. To go along with my Beats Headset.
"On launch, the iPad had none of that either."
That's so business ignorant, they might as well print that on their business cards. You have to beat Ipad on day one, not on par with them a year ago.
You might last longer in the meeting being frank. "No, we cant do that, and let me apologize for being a year late with even our rookie effort."
Can they bundle the Touchpad with an inexpensive Droid tablet to handle the basic functions for the coming months?
Onless they're hours away from releasing new WebOS for for the Veer, TTS is a "coming weeks/months" deal too.
So, HP, what are you good at?
webOS with lovely multitasking
Flash support
Touch To Share
Wireless charging featuring Exhibition
.
.
.
But we have true multitask I can multi task between documents that I cant edit, emails that dont thread, google maps errr bing maps.....we can all do this more cause the battery life is amazing, 15 hrs compared to IP's 10.
In the end, all of these enterprise tablets must be carried around by a person - someone who really would rather be carrying around an iPad. where's the training for that?
The only reason why anyone would want an iPad specifically is because they really haven't had a choice. Yes there are Android tablets but they really didn't hit the market until this past Spring. Most of them half-baked, especially the one that was thought to be a real challenger to the iPad, the Playbook that plays Android apps- cept it was hit with recalls and other problems.
So although everyone has been bitchin' about HP taking so long to release their product, they didn't want to follow in the footsteps of the Playbook, Xoom or other halfbaked products. In time, that opinion of wanting an iPad may change with something that has is cool on the market.
The only reason why anyone would want an iPad specifically is because they really haven't had a choice, eh?
Well, that or...
...They like Netflix
...They like Hulu
...They like the biggest selection of enterprise tablet apps currently available
...They like a proven product
...They like the superior build quality
...They like the 10+ hour battery life
...They like having WAY more choices in the app catalog
....They like internally developing an app and being able to sell it NOW on a market of 100 million+ users
...They like a huge selection of accessories
...They like a guarantee that they are buying into an established ecosystem that will be healthy for years to come
Aside from those tiny quibbles, no reason whatsoever why anyone would choose an iPad.
I don't think people here know what enterprise wants. Enterprise partners or resellers don't care about the Ipad's app store or Apple's reputation. They only want the tablet device to be secure, reliable, rugged, customizable, affordable, scaleable to their needs. Usually their software apps (whether database or demo presentation) is very proprietary to their needs and not something they want to sell to others. If the device isn't pretty and shiny and desireable, they don't care.
In fact, they don't want their staff loading up on extra game apps or watching netflix when they should be working. I'll give you an example, when drug reps come into my office, they're using thinkpads or toshibas, or occasional dell. Those who use tablets use fujitsu. Not sonys or Ipads even though the user might desire them more. So HP has a strong chance to sell to this enterprise market with its established channels.
If the growth of WebOS devices comes mostly from businesses that fit this very narrow definition, it might be nice for HP, but will be abysmal for WebOS as a CONSUMER operating system, and most certainly for WebOS as a smartphone operating system.
If I'm a developer, am I really going to put my bread and butter into an ecosystem primarily made up of locked down devices that users can't install or even browse for apps on provided by companies who got them only because they were bundled into a printer or server purchase?
If you are an individual developer working on a new and improved **** app, then no, you're not. If you are a developer working for, say, Epocrates, and HP says "we supply thousands of computers to medical professionals, and we're going to make a major push for the medical tablet business. Partner with us," then maybe yes.
Think about HP's strategy. You're not going to beat iPad in the consumer market. You're not even going to be competitive for a while. Right now, Apple could probably put out a trash receptacle with their logo (the iCan?) and people would buy it. But in the enterprise market, Apple almost doesn't exist, while HP is huge, and profit margins are better. HP would be crazy to market to their weakness rather than to their strength. In the consumer market, a tablet is a luxury, but think about electronic medical records at a hospital bedside, or warehouse inventory with NFC, or, heck, UPS replacing their current crappy signature devices with ruggedized tablets that display the package contents before you sign. There's a business case to make here, and if HP can make it they could do quite nicely.
All of this has nothing to do with Netflix or Hulu, but it has a lot to do with credibility. HP has to position itself as a company that can deliver on business tablets and grow the market. If it can do that, it will be in a position to branch into the consumer market successfully. This won't happen overnight, though. I'm thinking Touchpad 3.
Apple does very well selling tablets to business. I see them all over. The idea that business aren't buying ipads or that apple does nothing in business is wishful thinking.
You may be right about that. I'm not seeing them personally except in education, where Apple does have established ties. But my point was not so much that Apple can't sell to business, rather that Apple doesn't have that market sewn up yet like it does with the consumer market. One reason for that is that the business case has yet to be made (or may not exist) in a lot of sectors. Another is that large sectors often need specialized apps written by people with specialized knowledge. Apple doesn't really have a "services" arm to speak of. HP does. For example, they have their own Digital Hospital Infrastructure. When it comes to dealing with HIPAA regulations, are you going to trust the guys who link all your hospital records together, or the guys with the Netflix app?
The same is true in corporate IT. Citrix is only one player. What if you want customized integration with Documentum, or Pro-E, or an in-house system or any of hundreds of niche apps which are huge in particular sectors but which most consumers have never heard of? That's where scale, reach and experience matter, and it's also very profitable even on low volumes.
I'm not saying Apple couldn't compete here. Maybe they could. But they don't have a history of it, and it doesn't seem to be their focus. They're more likely to compete for markets like car sales demos (non-flash, of course) or education, where a browser and a PDF viewer are about all you need, and "popular" and "well-liked" are the distinctives that matter.
You're looking at the problem the wrong way. HP's enterprise strategy allows developers to design custom apps for the enterprise at rates that exceed $0.99 per copy and without the need to market against over 100k apps in Apples store. If a developer can get the right customer they have it made. And it allows them to fund better apps and online services for the consumer market.
So enterprise sales are likely to begin after developing proprietary apps? Hope those apps are not more complicated than an app to edit a letter to my Aunt written in Word.
Same developers, would probably want to do the app in IOS and will surely tell the client so, and have lots of reasons why.
predogs, u sound like a hater. why you're so mad? did hp do u wrong? your always objective. they must of have done something to u.
It's just he same stuff, different day. The answers are so easy, so simple, yet they go against the proven history of Palm and HP. HP doesn't have a technical barrier, they have a cultural barrier. The WebOS community is HP, a lot of disgruntled WebOS users, a few hombrew superstars, apocalyptic remnants of a developer base, optimistic employees and a few johnny-come-lately that still believe the HP press releases.
HP continues the proud tradition of great demonstrations, followed a half year later with a half-baked launchs. As has been asked in the past "show me all these devoted developers" and "why weren't these applications developed in the last two years?"
mikah912, u talk too much. u just letting us all know how ignorant u are. so u brag on the ipads' millions of apps and other bullshit that u that matters to you. that **** don't matter to everybody in the whole wide world. u sound silly dawg. **** up off that **** u chattering about. you corny for that!!!!
LOL...I guess I just got served?
And actually, not everybody wants an iPad or to be an iPerson.
Wow levorsume and untidy guy, you two are bashing the TouchPad before its even launched and we know the app launches and schedule as well as the look and feel of these apps and all the device's capabilities.
I'm smelling fear.
I'm smelling almost no new developments since Feb. 9.
this is what it's looking like. just optimizing WebOS seems to be all they have done. I thought "all major apps" will be ready at launch.
Bummer that's not happening. However, I guess the HP WebOS team can define their own list of major apps - those that are available day 1.
Case in point, 2+ years, no WebOS app for precentral.net
ScienceApps did a Precentral app some time ago, which isn't that bad. 224 reviews, almost all 5 stars. Search the app catalog for "precentral".
Fear of a platform that's failed every time it's entered the market?
I'll be experimenting with the ipad2 while I'm in Spain for a month, but I have a feeling I won't like it. I need a tablet that can handle business, academic, and personal uses, often at the same time. WebOS multitasking seems to be the only viable option!
What good is multitasking if there isn't multiple apps worth running? Everyone makes this argument but the simple fact is that at most you could be running maybe 4-5 things at once, and webOS does such a poor job at concurrently running apps (web pages that never load, and then turn white, etc), that it's almost more pleasant to double click a home button and choose to resume something else. I would love for a side by side with an ipad 2 vs touchpad to show how delusional this mentality is.
If i have business, academic, and personal uses, i'm carrying a laptop.
When i want a toy to consume media and lay around the house with, then i consider a tablet. That is, if a smartphone doesn't already meet those needs.
They better step up the training. I was at Best Buy yesterday and nobody there knew anything. I spoke with four different employees and none of them knew anything. I had to point out the Veer to them and tell them it was from HP and running WebOS. They didn't know what WebOS was!!! They said they had the iPhone and the Droid, that's all they knew. I then went to Sam's Club and stopped at the cell phone kiosk there. The one person there knew all about!! Really Best Buy? Really HP? HP needs to hammer hammer hammer hammer WebOS on the retailers if they want this to sell. They need to flood TV, radio and the internet with adds adds adds adds if they want it to sell. The lines of enterprise and consumers is blurring, especially in mobile tech. HP has to make the users think that if they don;t have WebOS they are losers, that nobody will like them, that only the "cool" people have WebOS, exactly like Apple did with the iPhone and like Motorola/Verizon did with Droid. Put it on many devices on every carrier so that anyone anywhere not only can get a WebOS device, but they have a choice of which WebOS device. that's how Android caught up with iOS.
Best Buy training not slated until end of June and early July.
All this talk about TP for business rings hollow to me. Just a few months ago, the Slate 500, after giving up on the consumer market, was supposed to be the ultimate business tablet solution. It did everything this article suggests, only more of it. Turns out, less than 10,000 humans wanted one, enterprise included.
Now, we are singing the same song, different slab. This article is specifically mentioning two features that will help sell the TP to enterprise customers over the iPad. Hmm... Citrix, check. HTML 5 app creation, check. These are both things the iPad excels in, and has so for some time. So, again, where is the advantage over the iPad? The article focused on two things that are not advantages at all, just "me too" features. I'm sure some of you could come up with a few things. But the point is that HP is pushing the things that do not make the TP stand out, but solidify its position as a poor imitation.
I may be wrong, but I believe HP produced that Slate for contractual reasons with Microsoft. If you want, let's ask Derek to begin all posts on this website with the following chant, preferably done while on our knees: "Apple's iPad is the best, there is no need for any other, case closed."
Happy now?
Sure, iPad is the best, but I don't understand the North Korean-sounding philosophy that only Apple can serve the market. There are savvy enterprise buyers who understand that the TouchPad will be a better, more open device for their needs. HP is making its case very well, while clearly acknowledging that it's coming from behind.
If all the tablets in the world that can be sold have already been sold, I would totally understand the unabashed iPad superiority complex. You can't have it both ways, if it's a new category, it will evolve and the competitive landscape will change over time. If it's a mature all-wrapped-up market, why the heck are people betting Apple will grow in it.
Fair response, but misses the point. My point was that HP is focusing on differentiators that are not differentiators at all. Specifically, they are talking about Citrix and HTML 5 custom apps. Both constitute old news in iPad land. These are specifically targeting iPad, so why use features the iPad excels in? Perhaps HP needs to spend a little more time using an iPad, rather than just aping externals an ad copy.
As for the rest of your post, so far, there is not any real proof that there is a tablet market. Up until now, all we have seen is a growing iPad market, and a few outliers who want to be iPads. Still too early to tell.
One more thing... (Thought you would like that.) :)
The Slate is suffering from a great deal of revisionist history. It was shown off at a CES event as a consumer tablet. It was MS's attempt to preempt the iPad announcement. After the iPad came out, all the techies were rooting for the Slate to be the iPad killer as it was a "real" computer. It was the most highly anticipated product of the year as it would appeal to techies and enterprise customers, alike. When it finally dribbled out the door, only then was it an enterprise play, only. It had everything that enterprise needed. Only after its shocking failure did it become just a contract fulfillment that was never of any importance to HP. Enough with the revisionist history.
Even now, the TP is starting to be positioned as an enterprise play as is it likely not to be a consumer hit. If it fails at that, it will become the first step in testing a new platform, but just wait for the "real" HP tablet running WebOS to follow in the coming months.
Obviously, your claim assumes that HP's acquisition of Palm had nothing to do with a strategy pivot by HP.
Mark Hurd had said that despite the weaknesses in OS, Microsoft was all HP had in going after the iPad. HP has a very different strategy from Microsoft in the markets it plays in, it generates lots of different SKUs slightly different from each other to spread over a market space. So yes, I assume fully that there will be several different TouchPad iterations over the next few years. Unless something drastic has changed, that's the way HP plays the market and it gave them leadership in the printer, server and PC space globally.
You have to keep things in perspective. HP is still a $130 billion/yr business with or without the TouchPad. Consumer sales account for less than 25% of the company's business despite the fact that each of HP's business units is a Fortune 500 company in its own right. webOS/tablets/mobile consumer is not a short-term make-or-break situation for HP the way it is for Motorola, Nokia or RIM. webOS is more important in an integrated sense than in an abstract form for HP. HP's businesses are solid, boring and reliable. The market wants faster growth from the company and higher margins. 105 billion of HP's annual revenue comes from enterprise, and it's #1, #2 or #3 in every category except enterprise software.
This mis-impression of HP as a company that doesn't know what its doing is mostly held by consumer-obsessed fans (Facebook, Apple, Google) who couldn't be bothered to understand how it makes its $14 billion in annual operating profits. Ask Dell, Xerox, Acer, IBM and Oracle if HP knows how to compete and you'll get a very different answer. HP's products are more expensive than Dell's but sell better in most markets because of a better value proposition in the enterprise and with consumers.
Yes, the company has its issues but they are mainly lower margins, slower growth area focus than its leader pack peers (IBM and Apple) and an insufficiently sized enterprise software business.
There's no product that is all things to all people, least of all the iPad. No one is saying that that should be the only choice.
But it is equally as silly to say "The only reason why someone could want an iPad is because they have no other choices". First off, it's a luxury category, so the choice that pretty much most people currently living have made is not to get a tablet at all. Second, the only way to compete in any competition in any field whatsoever is to understand your opponent's strengths. To say that the iPad is totally devoid of merit when it has created a phenomenon and new consumer category is just wrong. To think that people are going to reflect back to what the iPad had "at launch" and hold that against it, while putting HP's future dreams of WebOS on everything with a microchip as a positive is also wrong.
Look the market now. Think of where it's going. Then aim to compete with and dominate THAT. That's how you win in this industry. HP is capable of doing it. But they're not going to with mindsets like the aforementioned.
HP is totally where the market is going with webOS Synergy. Integrating apps at core-OS level makes Apple's biggest attraction less relevant because hardware will eventually reach a point where it's good enough across the board.
If you can buy Kindle books, run Flickr for your photos, listen to music with Spotify and watch Netflix sweetly integrated into your device's OS without being tied to one vendor, that's the path that the market will go towards, not locked Apple ecosystems built around iTunes and iCloud.
You saw that with phones. You'll see that with tablets too. The person who plays ball best with everyone will have a loyal crowd. HP is well suited for that place and has enterprise credibility too.
I love OS-level integration and like how WebOS features it. That is definitely going to be key to this OS gaining traction.
But this is a double-edged sword. Because if HP isn't controlling any of these services integrated, these services can restrict access, change APIs, and cripple competing products vs. their own native solutions at will.
Likewise, these OS integrations are great for convenience, but bad for robust, deep use of the same service. It's great that I can easily quick tweet from Just Type, but I can't see my Twitter feed, and certainly not integrated with all other social networking feeds. It's great that I can write a quick email, but where's threaded email for keeping track of the quick emails I get back?
The convenience OS-level integration provides is nice, but it's not enough. It has to be coupled by vendor commitment for dedicated apps, and we're not seeing that yet.
See my above post.
HP didn't push the slate 500 because it was running windows which ran poorly on these lighter, less powerful devices. Why push a device that didn't run well? Probably HP saw that on the wall earlier, knew that MS had nothing that served the netbook/tablet form factor well (and still doesn't) and had to look elsewhere before iOS and android took over. And along came webOS for sale. Mobile OSes are the key difference.
The key to success in the enterprise market is HP's flexibility in serving their needs (compared to Apple's historical weakness in enterprise) not technical specs or consumer popularity.
Funny thing is, I wanted a Slate 500. It had a stylus so I could take notes on it and I could run Office OneNote. As a student, it was my dream tablet, and they didn't make it available on the consumer market.
What I would like to know is how HP going to position the Touchpad when Windows 8 tablets appear next year.
Yep, that will be interesting.
Windows could promise that it will keep the "Blue Screen Of Death" when Windows locks up... I was so happy to see that the other day on my Windows 7 Machine.... BSOD... gave me that warm fuzzy feeling that Microsoft still delivers what we expect. It would be so cool walking around with a Tablet 8 showing off your BSOD... Kinda like sportin a chub in a g.a.y bar... Maybe not the attention your wanting... but if your going to be in the scene... give the people what they expect. ;-0
True - did HP make the wrong call with WebOS and should they have stayed close to Microsoft in the tablet/mobile space?
Time will tell.
set sail for Fail.
TP in the enterprise will be interesting. Most things that are mention; VPN; HTML5; Citrix receiver. The receiver if it's like on Android requires probably a merchandized server and an external access gateway. If you are not running it, it probably won't connect, while the iOS does for Xen Desktop. At least in my experience. But no one talks about security and device management with the TP or Pre3, etc. in a organization. For the iPAD or phone for example, it's more "governance" then security.
It's all tied to the assigned apple ID on a personal level. All you can do is remote wipe from mobile me or restrict active sync access if you use a third party security application, but the user has the ultimate control of installing, removing and disabling things on it. So, that's why it's "Governance." Enforcing policies.
On the TP, if using mobile iron or some other third party software, there's no good method currently (software) that can manage a group of devices for both personal and enterprise use in a simple way.
It'll become cumbersome for IT management and having to apply individual security profile settings to each individual person vs the ability to apply multiple security groups/settings and chain them to an individual profile. Including the removal, distribution of in-house apps, purchased apps, and restriction of certain apps to be installed that are deemed bad or against company policies.
If enterprise means the ability to remote wipe and that's about it, then there's an issue in my mind where IT can't lock, push application install, removals, restrictions and lock the device from use for a mix of personal and enterprise purposes.
This in particular comes down to the issue of application purchase. In the iTunes world, when you purchase software or music under an apple ID, and you sync your device to another computer or itunes station, it'll ask you to move it all, so that purchase will follow. In an organization that has purchased volume license of say Quick Office for example, how is that deployed? Can't push and install it from the server. Each person has to install it, and have a ID and Credit card file in hand to authenticate before purchase, that is associated to the apple id.
If you were issuing out 100 iPADs, is the business going to hand out a bunch of IDs and CC? Probably not. But once it's been installed on the ipad, now the app will transfer to your itunes account the next time you sync. So the organization has lost the app. Or if they purchased and you reimburse, the app still stays with their apple id account.
Will WebOS be the same, with the palm profiles? It's all based on a personal ID and it can't be mixed or separated between what was purchased and synced for an individual and what was purchased and is property of an organization/business that.
That's my question; is it ready for the enterprise or is it ready for the individual with the concept or the belief that it can be used in an enterprise because it has Citrix and VPN that makes it enterprise and corporate ready?
All these things you mention, HP has spent a lot of time thinking about them. It's just not the most interesting stuff to advertise, but they have it covered or on their roadmap. HP isn't Palm, it has the wherewithal and determination to keep its promises worldwide.
"Tablets Are Good For Business Stuff Too Thank You Very Much" - just not the TouchPad yet. Coming soon, real enterprise support for the TouchPad; until then please buy our beta version to help us stay in the game.
The same posters post in dang there EVERY topic with the same TIRED **** ...lol.
HP hasn't even had their 2 major products (Touchpad/Pre 3) in the hands of the consumer yet and all these SAME posters can do is find fault with almost everything/move HP make, although HP has stated over and over they are in it for the looooong haul...its not a spint, but a marathon for them.
If you were not happy with previous versions of the Pre and have NO intention on buying the Touchpad or Pre 3, I dont get why not just be gone, rather than licking your chops to speak on your glass half empty to empty attitude towards the latest articles posted.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense realize HP isnt going to have the success of the Ipad 2 overnight and there will ALWAYS be something someone think is missing.
I look forward to purchasing the Pre 3 and a Touchpad soon, without bashing/finding fault with Apple or Android.
Are you reading the same thread? Almost all of the criticism is reactive and has to do with rationales given by posters here, not HP's business moves.
Yes, and I have been reading all of these threads for a looooooong time.
As a webOS fan (not to say I am anti Android/Apple), HP is FINALLY giving us what Palm couldnt with plans for lots more, and again there are a few who seem to beat the same drum no matter the article.
Yes, one can always find a fault in anything, since nothing is perfect, but to get news of products, now soon to be released products and a road map for webOS....I thought this would at least cool the negativity, I guess I was wrong.
Anyways, have a wonderful day.
PS: Are you planning to buy the Pre 3 and/or Touchpad?
I have no plans to buy either, but that could always change. This is mostly because we've seen so little new since Feb. 9 except for yet another botched launch.
When I see that HP is running the show completely different from Palm, I'll be happy to give 'em a fair shake.
Get used to it, if you come here and read stories past the end (ie, comments). It IS the same group of people that regardless of the story are always bashing webOS/HP/Palm. You learn to glance at the poster and scroll if its those folks. There are still people that post decent comments, once you weed out the chaff.
The lead keeps getting buried. This is not about who makes the best tablet, or even the best tablet for business. This is about HP's effort to position the TP as a better business solution than the iPad because of two features: Citrix and HTML 5 custom apps. This is the thesis of the article we are commenting on.
My point is that strategy is downright stupid! Either HP does not know anything about the capabilities of the iPad, or they are hoping their potential customers don't. How will the sales meeting go? HP rep waxes poetic on how the TP can connect to the company network via Citrix Receiver, and then show off a few custom apps. Company IT guy asks, "How is that different from what the Apple rep just demoed five minutes ago?" HP rep shuffles his feet and starts showing TTS. Company IT guy asks to try it with his non-HP phone.
After more throat clearing and foot shuffling, the HP rep starts flipping through cards to switch apps. Company IT guy says that looks a lot like how it is done on the iPad, and exactly how it is done on the Playbook. HP rep has had enough and yells something about iPhans and the IT guy's mother, and storms out of the room.
LOL @ the last sentence.
And you are correct about Citrix and HTML 5. Where I work right now, we do lots of native, HTML 5 and hybrid apps (depending on what our clients need) for both Android and iOS. Not sure why people list HTML 5 as a "strength" for webOS when it is used on most platforms already. It's not a strength so much as a "yeah, we do that as well" at this point.
if you think Citrix is all there is to HP's enterprise mobility strategy, you're mistaken. Citrix is a parity point with iPad, not a differentiator and it's easy to advertise and soundbite.
There's way more to it than that. From HP Discover, I can tell you HP's enterprise value prop around TP is very solid and CIOs in attendance liked what they heard. They have some questions about execution, but it's a plan that Apple is not interested or currently capable of matching.
First of all, investment. Many enterprises have watched tablets, particularly iPads, proliferate in the workplace and are now formally studying them. Enterprises don't just walk into Best Buy to purchase 1000 devices, that's not how IT works. There are things they really like about the iPad and things they don't. Price is a very small part of the lifecycle cost of a device and HP's pricing relative to Apple doesn't swing them one way or another. It's just fine where it is.
Web developers. Every company has web developers, they can develop for TouchPad with less training than needed to develop in iOS. They can customize enterprise apps, build in security architectures from the ground up using HP's industry-leading enterprise tools like Fortify and ArcSight and deploy them without using consumer infrastructure i.e., iTunes. Companies can build private app stores to distribute apps and content on HP's platform.
Roadmap Transparency and Enterprise Support: HP can customize its support and management with infinite flexibility in enterprise situations. It has a global infrastructure to support this in more than 100 countries with tens of thousands of channel partners for added support. HP will be more transparent about its product roadmaps than Apple and will give enterprise customers more certainty on key features over rollout horizons. This isn't Apple's strength, anybody who invested in Apple's server story will tell you this.
Compatibility with 3rd Party Management tools: HP has open standards in its DNA. It makes things more competitive, but it sustains business over the long term. TouchPad will be compatible with most, if not all, of the existing mobility management platforms and tools that enterprises already use. This is important because enterprises don't want to build untested and duplicate management capabilities just because they are introducing a new device in the environment.
Compatibility with existing investments in HP infrastructure and management tools - webOS is going to become the user interface that manages a lot of HP tools in the enterprise in areas where HP is a power player. The company is #1 in servers, #2 in networking, #2 in enterprise storage, #1 in printing, #1 in desktops and notebooks, #7 in software, #4 in enterprise security, #2 in enterprise services, etc, etc... I think by now you get the point. This is no short term play and it's not about who's hottest this christmas in Best Buy. Although HP cares a lot about that too, it seems they will be happy with a strong #2 or 3 for now in the consumer space.
Most of what I've written here, Apple decided a long time ago it wasn't their game. They'll take the business when it comes their way but it's not what they do well and they're not even trying to change their company to do it well. They build great products and create great integrated consumer experiences. Different mission, different priorities.
Bottom line is enterprises buy very differently from consumers, and the things they prioritize are meaningless to ordinary consumers yet they drive multi-milllion dollar decisions. It sounded to me as an outsider like HP has thought about this much longer and harder than people give it credit for. What HP lacks in pizzazz it makes up for in deliberate, well-thought out plans, even when they don't look **** on TV. You don't build a $100 billion/yr + enterprise business doing amateur things.
Everyone who paid hard-earned money to attend Discover got it. TouchPad is no iPad, it's a different value prop with a solid thesis of its own.
Yet, this is what the article that we're all commenting on starts out with: "There’s just one competitor that stands in the face of the HP TouchPad’s success, it’s the iPad. "
I don't disagree with much of what you said. But obviously companies aren't already using webOS. And as you've said, Apple isn't really in the enterprise game. So who's the real competitor standing in the way of the TP's success?
cardfan,
There are four main competitors to HP TouchPad in the enterprise:
1. Apple iPad and consumerization of IT - this is a big trend where people bring their own devices and connect to work with them. Android can play here too but Google has had mixed success in enterprise unless Lenovo gets in with a serious IBM-integrated enterprise offer. iPad has the stronger slipstream advantage on the consumerization angle. CSO concerns about security in Cloud Computing will slow down consumerization as Cloud adoption accelerates in enterprises. HP is very well placed to address this because it builds private and public cloud infrastructure for everyone, including Apple and Amazon.
2. RIM - it has enterprise infrastructure, credibility with mobility decision makers in the enterprise, even though their US market share has collapsed. They are under severe pressure with a difficult launch behind them and a lot of introspection on PlayBook.
3. Microsoft's mobile ecosystem roadmap -Still a couple of months away, but potentially a fierce competitor that can integrate Office and SharePoint tools better than anyone else if they want. Don't control hardware.
4. HP's ability to execute. -This is truly in HP's hands to influence.
This is exactly right, and much better put than I could have done. Sometimes when I read this site I get the impression that people are mistaking HP for Palm. The Touchpad and Pre3 don't matter except insofar as they lend credibility to HP's ability to produce WebOS devices. What matters is CIOs nodding and (hopefully) making commitments to HP. If HP can't make this happen, I doubt they will keep going with WebOS just to push consumer devices.
I'm not sure it would be THAT dramatic but if anyone is demonstrating the Citrix receiver running on a TP in an enterprise setting, there is probably going to be someone in the room who is is using it on their IPad already. In my office, I would be using it at the meeting to get work done on via our corporate network,
Where are all these Hater's on the TouchPad coming from? :) Hire me as a Sales Trainer HP and let me help you in educating the Masses ;)
I realised that the browser will be capable of accessing Google/docs. At least that is my assumption.
So problem solved.
Best of luck for this endeavour for HPPalm.
Seriously Best Buy WTF??? I'm in the Best Buy store off of Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge, Va and i asked 5 employees including a manager what time they'll start taking preorders for the HP TouchPad and they all gave me that look like what the **** is a TouchPad. Then they keep telling me "we have the Xoom", i said i don't want that. The manager said "we have the tab" i wanted to say WTF is a tab but i just walk away.
HP need to really do a good job educating these retail stores about their products, especially the TouchPad because this is not going great thus far!
I am going to this training on Sunday the 26th and one of us at Dave and Busters Marietta, GA will win a free Touchpad 5 days before the release date!
I swear Steve Jobs could take a dump in a box wrap it up place an apple logo on it and apple fanbois would line up to buy it and claim it is the best product apple has ever put out yet.
HP has a better solution then apple that is a fact. The touchpad does more then the Ipad will allow you to do. Steve Jobs must control what you can do with the product you bought from him. Why people line up to worship Steve Jobs is a mystery. It has been well documented he is not a nice person and treats people badly. If not for the WOZ Steve Jobs would not have what he has today. To many people give all the credit to Steve Jobs, when in fact Jobs deserves maybe at most 20% of the credit for apples fortunes.
There are a lot of very smart people who have thought of the products apple has but to read anything about apple you would think Steve Jobs designs every single product that apple has ever developed when we all know the truth is Steve Jobs is a media **** and takes credit for things he in reality had no hand in the real design and development. Yes he gets to be the one who signs off on the products, but Steve Jobs was not the one who designed the Ipod, that was a guy who now works for HP. If not for John Rubinstein's ideas Steve Jobs would be nothing more then a foot note in history.
Dude, I think you're looking for the Steve Jobs hate thread. This is the HP is banking on differentiating themselves in areas that are not differentiators thread.