Round Table: Think big. 61
Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:44 pm EST
Welcome to Round Table, which is in fact not a table at all. Round Table is a continuing series on PreCentral where we pose a question to the staff and they provide their thoughts and insights. The question could be something simple like “do you prefer a physical or virtual keyboard?” or something a bit more complicated, like “what is the biggest problem facing Palm as a brand?” Or maybe we’ll just end up chatting about our favorite ice cream flavor. Today, however, we’re launching into the first of a three-part Round Table series: Think Big. Think Small. Think Beyond.
Adam: I think the “Think Big. Think Small. Think Beyond” tagline is meant to have a double meaning. It is meant to represent a physical size of devices, but also a level of usage and connectivity that HP and Palm want to focus on. From a device perspective, “Think Big” is meant to obviously refer to larger devices such as tablets. But in a bigger picture, I think it’s referring to the larger ecosystem that a user will connect into. This larger ecosystem can refer to something as simple as apps, but I think it’s more than that. It’s how a user interacts with the device (keyboards, pen input?), other users (social media, messaging, etc), their businesses (VPN, quick office, enhanced synergy), the cloud, and with the larger world as a whole. HP’s scale is going to allow them to push webOS as a platform to allow integration with so many more aspects of society and technology. “Think big” will be much more of a strategic vision that will propel them into the future.
Derek: It’s a tablet. Will it be called the PalmPad? I hope not, though that name’s been teased so many times I don’t know anymore. I imagine HP is going to leverage their buying power to make this a competitively-price 10-inch tablet to take on the iPad like no Android tablet has managed thus far. Of course, the big deal to me won’t be the tablet itself, but how Palm manages to make webOS work well on a large screen. Enyo clearly will play an important roll in this, but there’s scaling the operating system to content with as well. I highly doubt the tablet will be available in February - I’m guess middle of March at the earliest, but I’d love to be surprised.
Dieter: The PalmPad cometh, and about time. Will it be released right away? Doubtful, but it will come by the end of March. I expect we’ll get a couple surprises in store beyond the standard “has a virtual keyboard’ and “prints” stuff - I’m hoping some new and serious software partnerships. Netflix, Hulu Plus: let’s get on board.
Jonathan: Think big: a new family of tablets available immediately, which will include both cellular and Wi-Fi (w/automatic connection to/via webOS devices) models, focused on productivity rather than consumption. Full Office document editing included, optional pressure-sensitive stylus for drawing, multiple input methods (virtual keyboard, Bluetooth keyboard, and perhaps even Graffiti) and industry-standard apps like Kindle and ePocrates (revived). They will be marketed as professional devices, although consumers will find much to like as well.
Mark: The day of “scaling” webOS on “multiple form factors” looks like it’s here. Finally. Big must certainly be referring to webOS tablets. While the safe money is on as many as three different tablets for 2011 (business, student, consumer), at least one if not all three will be available immediately. “Big” may also be referring to the much buzzed about and often joked about webOS printers. I’m very excited to finally see, and better yet own, a webOS tablet. I’m very curious to see webOS on a printer and how it might look and function.
Nathan: The most obvious thing that has Palm thinking big is that holy grail of the current gadget market, the tablet, only made possible by HP swooping in to save them. We all dreamed of webOS on an iPad killer and soon it will be a reality. It will raise the bar for tablets, though the next generation iPad will mimic it and the next tablet after that will mimic the iPad that mimics the Palmpad and so on and so forth until we have a holographic tablet powerful enough to run the Department of Defense and reads your thoughts in lieu of a keyboard. But more than that, I think Palm wants us to dream big because it truly believes great things are coming that will reward us who have stuck by them. Things did not go according to plan with webOS’ launch and we have had to wait longer than anticipated for the next great thing. This will be the year we stop crying for what we want and start saying 'I told you so' to our detractors on other platforms. Palm wants us to think big because now all things are possible and those big dreams are no longer pipe dreams.
Rizwan: I have a couple of different theories on this one. The most obvious would be that “Think Big” represents PalmPad. My hopes are for 10”, dual cam, Tegra 2-grade, and running a version of webOS (2.5?) that is significantly different from anything we’ve seen before. With the advent of Honeycomb, I don’t think it’s enough to just port webOS over. Even if the UI is amazing, it’s got stiff competition that’s fresh in the media’s eye.
The more interesting possibility is that this represents a larger form-factor touchscreen only slab/phone. I’d imagine this product wouldn’t stray very far from the dimensions of the iPhone: say ~3.7”, higher resolution, with Gorilla Glass. The more I think about it, the more I suspect that this latter theory is the correct one; and here’s why: Smartphones are the exploding category right now, so if Palm hits only one thing out of the park it better be a phone. That said, it makes the most sense to take more than one shot at the phone: “Big” being the flagship, and “Small” being something for the younger hipsters out there. Their casting calls seem to be looking at 2 different demographics, so I bet this is the case.
So, that's what the PreCentral crew thinks of "think big." Wholeheartedly agree? Vehemently disagree? The comments await.
61 Comments
Thing big?
When you're a big thinger, spelling isn't as impotent.
spilling?
LMAO!
Thing spellchecker.
"thing" is a word
butt not a verb
THINK BIG
I THINK the title should read "Think Big" instead of "Thing Big"
At least webOS wasn't emasculated with "Thing Small".
I have an idea of what 'think small' is and what what 'think big' might be. I'm wondering what 'think beyond' might be. Either way, 'think beyond' wont be an immediate strategy and will most likely come out in the "upcoming months."
Got it, guys. Don't need a billion comments telling me I can't type.
Don't you know Derek that there are a bunch of people here who love to point out the obvious and the negative. Real "ball busters". Great think tank by you guys by the way. Feb.9th has to be on point for webOS.
dual core or it will be outdated before it's released
OMAP4 !!!
Has to be OMAP 4. Then again, Palms had a good business relationship with Texas Instrument but with HP in charge, things could have changed. We shall see.
OK, if we're all done making jokes about big thingies at Derek's expense, can I just lodge a heartfelt plea for the PDA functionality of ANY new device to be restored to at least Palm's 2008 Treo levels? I've ended up buying Echo and continuing to use Palm Desktop just to get basic stuff done, and that's ot funny, especially for a comapny that "things" it's going to take on Apple in the wider marketplace. The user experience has to be first-rate/top-notch, folks, and it ain't there yet.
Do we know if this is going to be available to be streamed online? I'd totally take off from work so I can watch the presentation...
i would most certainly hope so
I think the "think big" portion has not only to do with either a tablet device but probably a large slab phone, or, most likely both. I think that is part of "big", as in many, not just large. Big product line. Think small is obviously the Pixi size device, not sure if they'll keep the keyboard on this ... seems like they could really get small yet functional if they made the screen a little bigger, but chopped off the keyboard and went with touch screen keyboard. Should be very durable this way as well. I wouldn't buy it of course, since I prefer a real keyboard, but, having a teenage daughter, I can tell you that the small form factor that fits better into pant pockets is really important. Finally, think beyond, could be the unveiling of cloud sync across all WebOS devices. Phone, to tablet, to printer, all accessing the same apps and data stored in the cloud.
"Think Big" better refer to hardware performance/quality and features. HPalm needs to blow people away in order to get mindshare - much less customer - won over.
"Think Small" needs to be in reference to the "buy in" to their new ecosystem. Given the already low price-points of their competition (which many of the users they are shooting for have already invested in with accessories and applications), HPalm needs to have a competitive edge to lure in potential customers.
I also really hope they learned from their Pre launch mistakes and actually have something ready for release soon if not right away. They can't afford to wait till June again while their competition out-dates them before ever releasing anything!
From the Pre launch we'd hoped they'd learn to not launch exclusively on Sprint, though Verizon isn't any better from our standpoint. If the "Palm Voice" rumors are to be believed whatever is coming will be on Verizon LTE also, and then we can be screwed into paying $10/month extra regardless of carrier for either WiMAX or LTE.
So, I'm not gonna speculate on "Think Big", etc. I am gonna say, that I'm abandoning my plans of jumping to the Evo in light of the PreCentral staff's firm belief that new products will be available by March. I just hope my Pre can make it. She's startin to putter along.
The problem facing HP/Palm right now is little brand knowledge by the general public, as well as some not really up-to-par advertising. (Granted, some of the earlier ads, specifically the one with the woman surrounded by monks, and the man going up the escalator, almost brought a tear to my eye). With this new lineup of devices, HP/Palm need to really hit one out of the park with the specs and advertising. I'm talking 1.2GHz and dual-core processors, and a ferociously aggressive advertising scheme to boot.
Still though, I'll be reporting back from the Dev Event in San Francisco (hell yeah developer community) to tell you what the details are.
Completely agree with the need to hit the phone market out of the park. As for a tablet with a pressure sensitive stylus for drawing, thats to much to ask for and still be affordable and useful. There's a reason Wacom Cintiq's cost so much. Just my opinion of course.
i really wish that i would be auto corrected if we are going to talk about spell check on these forums.
honestly i wish we had webos 2.0 released more so because of the spell check feature more than anyhting. i haaaaaate not having that on my phone and is the thing i miss my blackberry for the most. screw flash. its the one reason they aren't releasing it to us cuz it pobably runs like crap. id say just disable it for the older phones and give us the damn update already
Imagine a TV with each input represented as a card. So going between inputs, you just flick through some cards. No more clicking through inputs, just keep the ones you want to use around. PIP is not needed with the WebOS notification and card view. Am I dreaming? Well, I guess it won't happen unless the TV has some gesture based remote control.
I want Sony to hire you. Now.
I agree with the majority about Think Big, Think Small being new hardware with more GHZ, think beyond referring to cloud, but I also believe that all three hint at voice; davsalinas touched on it. A tablet/phone that is connected to your phone. Similar to google voice; get an incoming call to your webos phone and it will automatically re-route it to your tablet device (which you are using at the time) and since it is bluetooth connected "Boom", answer or send to voice mail. Later that day you are able to check via tablet/phone voicemails. This is what I see from think big, think small, and think beyond.
I think Palm's biggest problem is marketing!!! I mean webos is awesome but honestly outside of PreCentral few even know who it belongs to. I mean during the average program on tv I see on average of 4-6 HTC commercials!! Apple, Samsung, windows, all pushing they're product. Since i've owned my Plus I honestly have never seen an ad anywhere ever other than Palm's website!! GREAT PRODUCT!! HORRIBLE MARKETING!!!
The Pre had already fallen flat on its face by the time the Plus came out, not to disagree with the point that they need better marketing.
yuuup. all my friends with other smart phones think that the touchstone is awwesome and wish they had it for there phone to be used in the car as a docking station. i have never once seen palm advertise it once!!! no one even knows what it is!! but when i show it to people they are like coool u think my phone has that, im like NOPE! wtf palm?!
This is what I'm looking for:
1. A 10in tablet, with dual cameras, fast processor, good amount of memory, storage, battery life, and 4G connectivity (with the ability to mobile hotspot. USB host port would be a bonus.
2. Something that Android can't do: Stream Netflix
Of course, I'm also ready to replace my phone, and my eyes are getting older, so I dream of an Evo sized phone. Specs don't necessarily have to exceed HTC's, but it would need a docking connector, or Touchstone/Bluetooth to enable mating with a speaker dock.
Now, as for the "Think Small", I believe that it's in the realm of possibility to finally have the Dick Tracy Wrist Communicator. Imagine a Palm Pixi sized screen slightly reduced for your wrist, with a forward facing camera.
Within the realm of possibility?
Think big... the Evo is pretty big and thin. My pre is short and fat. I guess they want us to think of the Evo.
Big = Slate
Small = New phone(s)
Beyond = Services
You guys are thinking too small for "Think Big". WebOS TV, WebOS as a feature on touchscreen desktops, WebOS laptop/netbooks. A tablet isn't thinking big, just slightly bigger than a smartphone.
THINK BIG HPALM !
Are you ready? Here goes!
Include a pdf reader that loads pdfs and reads them .... Reliably !
Ta Da !
sorry... I've wanted to rant on this for awhile and just tried to read a 1mb attached pdf on an email and got the proverbial finger.... Happens all the time... The pre cany read/open pdfs barely at all it seems. Rubbish.
fini
^ this. and how about they fix the damn alarm app so it doesn't lose all my wake-up times every night.. -__-
I agree with the "think big" and "think small" but I think that "think beyond" will have to do more with sharing files between devices using wifi and the cloud. We will hopefully be using hand gestures using the front camera like TI was showing for the OMAP 4 series of processors. Here is a video of what I am talking about.
http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbugencontent.tsp?templateId=6123...
I think that "Think Big", "Think Small" is fun to speculate on what they mean but it is the "Think Beyond" that I find interesting. I hope to see hand gestures that will allow easy movement of data between any webOS device. I don't think we will see them used as much on enterprise devices but consumers will go for it, just look at the Kinect. Imagine dragging a picture you took with your phone over to a printer icon, talk about ease of use. I'm excited for the future.
Here is a video from TI showing a rough idea of what I'm talking about
http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbugencontent.tsp?templateId=6123...
I have a hunch for Feb 9. HP/Palm will make an extraordinary demo of all the devices like smartphones, PCs, notebooks, slates, e-print interconnecting each other in several ways, using webOS. They need to show the world the progress of HP investment in Palm.
So I recommend precentral to stay tuned to a video capture of that demo.
Thing big?.......
Thats what she said.
I hope they announce multiple tablet form factors. I much prefer a 7" one, but I understand that a lot of people would like a 10". I also reaaaally hope we get a webos connected watch (if that's what was blacked out on mckinney's wrist in that photo..)
The HP Post wil be just under 10" Slablet with dual cams and processors. Onscreen keyboard with BT optional keyboard & dock. This slablet is only one part of the "think big". Finishing the sentance with "Brother" might be more in line with HP's end game. WebOS is their start of massive cloud centric connected data devices, whether they be toasters, printers, slablets or simple phones. You thought Facebook opened your secret closets, wait till "something small" like invisible WebOS code java sniplets open your back doors to the cloud masses. But you'll still be able to get texts on your printer.
I have lost count of the number of Palms I've owned. Currently there are 2 Pixis and a Pre in my house. My problem with Palm is that it seems as though it is counting on its old loyal customer base. There isn't much marketing & advertising directed towards adding to the customer base. I'm one who always roots for the "under dog" but it just doesn't seem like the “under dog” is trying to increase its market share. Palm has good products, but needs to have more available and needs to increase awareness in the market place. Where was the market campaign when HP purchased Palm? WHERE IS THE HP PALM TABLET!? Two great brands no new products and no add campaign. Before the announcement of the Pre, I decided to try a competitor’s smartphone for about a year. I came back to Palm when they rolled out the Pre. I was excited that finally there was a new product with a promising future. After the initial campaign we haven't heard from you. As far as the Round Table series: Think Big. Think Small. Think Beyond… I say:
Think Big: WHERE IS THE HP PALM TABLET, as well as some other devices?
Think Small: I like the size of my Pre and my wife likes the size of her Pixi? How can you improve them? I’m with Sprint there’s been no hardware changes since the release. I’m jealous of the Verizon Pre. Why not offer WebOS to some other smartphone manufactures? I believe nearly every carrier offers Android phones.
Think Beyond: Increase the customer base beyond the old faithful’s. Create a Palm TV that I can watch in my living room and not on my phone. Market the WebOS and Palm as two different products. And did I mention increase the customer base…
Sorry for the rant!
They can conference and announce and innovate all they want.....we already have 1 of the top os' on the market but who knows that we do? Very few....So on the 9th we can expect great products but who will buy them if no1 even knows they exist? I mean we will but that's not enough to be competitve...we have got to reach the masses and that's going to take a serious marketing campaign!!! Please let me see or hear an ad somewhere just to let me know hp/Palm is trying....if I see 1 more minion I'm going to freak out! :)
I think it doesn't really matter what we think. We're the loyal crowd that has stood by Palm. What really matters is what the non WebOS masses think of the products when they hit the market.
You guys are whiners. I have a Pre. Love it. Use it for business and am happy. Once I added extra battery..I went crazy with geeking out my pre and I am a woman....not that that should matter. I whip out my Pre in a room full of Ipods and do wheelies around these guys. My Pre looks nicer. My screen shot of Sunset Cliffs with my sticky notes on it make ipod and blackberry officiadados drool. Then I wipe the screen and up comes Dr. Podder and they stare at me in envy. You guys get a grip. You are darn lucky. That Ipod screen typing is stoopid. Not only that it makes you crazy. The keyboard on Pre allows you to talk bluetooth and schedule at the same time..try that with your Evo etc...yuck!!!! And I love igoogle...ok..I am done. Some day I will be vindicated. Really. I am not a power user.I am the everyday user...just want it to work and efficiently. I love my Pre.
Ipod? Ipod? Why do Ipod users envy you? Cuz you can make calls and the Ipod can't? We all know we're lucky...but we aren't all that patient! In the coming months is getting old but we're still here griping about it and we're griping mainly because Palm is not near it's potential....so have a nice day and you keep making them Ipod users jealous!
I agree with you about loving my Pre I just want everyone else to as well. I think my Pre is a great product. I'm afraid that if they don't gain market share they will not be around. If they were doing so well why did they have to sell to HP? I don't want to lose my Palm.
Man, my pre just died :( Well, more like, got an error out of nowhere and now it wont load. Tried doctoring it but its no use, the software wont even read it. Does anybody have a pre they will lend me? lol Going over to sprint tomorrow. Guess its time to say goodbye to the little guy. :(
Are you guys sure the 9th they will deliver a new phone? I will find a way to hold off if this is true. I would much rather keep WebOS. Love its simplicity. My bro has the EVO, cool but doesn't compare to my pre. :/
Anyways, doesn't matter what they come up with for Think Big. As long as they make it happen with better hardware. This is my 3 pre that has kicked the bucket.
sprint will probably sell you a refurb for not too much money and it will b shiny new looking. see what you can do... i had a brinked pre (wont tell you how that happend) and went into sprint and told them it crashed and never turned back on as i was installing a large game. they told me they would look at it and that i should come back in an hour. when i got back they had a refurb rdy for me. give it a shot
I predict two smartphones, one will be 4G. The tablet will go on sale mid March or some time early April. They will give a road map of other devices coming in the end of first half of this year. Definitely a smartphone will go on sale by the end of Feb or early March with more versions coming soon. As far as Tablets Hp is a giant therefore I wont be surprised if they release 3 or 4 different ones by the end of this year. Thats their strategy and they will keep a device always as the flagship one. If the new products die in the 2011 market Rubinstein will leave Palm by the end of August.. Net books or large HP media desktops will run WebOs too, but not until November. As far as printers they will follow once consumers know webos as a smartphone and tablet platform. Last thing Hp wants to do is have consumers believe that WebOs moved from printers to smartphones. Remember will take time until Hp manages to sell half of tablets and smartphones as they do printers. This is a 4 year road for HP... To bad we have to wait but good things come slowly..
I have an idea that this is big thinger by Testhope.com introduction .
What's bigger than, oh I dunno, let's say, ACTUALLY releasing a PRODUCT. AKA something that's not a printer.
What's really small is HP/Palms concerns with contending in an iPhone/Droid flooded market. iPhones come out once a year and have the most apps. Androids come out once a month and have regular updates. Palm, we'll, we made that one phone 2 years ago and we have that 2.0 software you want so much, but... you can't have it yet.
Beyond? My patience is beyond thin with waiting since before last Summer for something to be purchasable, or even just leaked. Hope is all I asked for and all I got was months of wondering. Oh wondering and about 1000 "I talked to this guy at the Sprint store..." stories.
Shouldn't the round table picture at the top of the article say HP and not Palm?
I dont think Palm's mindshare can get any lower. its already reached vaporware status at this point (speaking of webos2.0) so that explains why HP is taking its time with any announcements or news of actual devices.
imagine what it would do if HP announced all this wonderful new hardware before or even at CES, but it wasnt coming out till june (which... news flash.... thats most likely the senario).
by having its own event on the 9th of feb, HP is managing to control the hype surrounding its devices. i foresee all the wonderful devices we always wanted being announced at the event, but with a june release date (at least for the phone... the tablet could be sooner). but just to keep the faithful at bay, WebOS2.0 will finally be released from Sprint first and then trickle down to everybody else the next two weeks.
that strategy will hold off the naysayers, while still allowing HP to say that they are releasing their consumer tablet in a month, business and student tablets with webos printers the next month and a phone on Sprint by May/June, with other carriers getting their own versions over the next two quarters.
if that dont sound logical enough for everybody then i give up.
you IT types are way too narrow. I see "big" actually representing somethin'k' like the cloud, and the future of webOS. "beyond" is more literal and about mindshare, like think beyond the hype of apple and above the clusterf*ck of devices that are android.
sweet! my comments were deleted from earlier... I think.
I hope that's not true. the comments sections have been glitchy to me lately vs how it used to be anyway, so maybe its just me, but censorship is unbecoming.
Sooo... when are we holding the contest for best new name for PREcentral???