So, what about the Pre3? Deep breaths, people. 206
While the Wi-Fi-only TouchPad may have had a release date, we are still left with a lot of questions. Yes, we are more than happy to go digging in the garage for our tents and sleeping bags in preparation for a few nights out in front of Best Buy in a couple of weeks, but for many of us a wifi-enabled TouchPad is only the first of two webOS powered devices that we dream about one day owning (and on more networks than just AT&T). What about the HP Pre3?
While news of the HP Veer and TouchPad have continued to stream in over the past few weeks, we still have hardly any concrete evidence of when the Pre3 will be released (sometime in the summer), and on what carrier(s). It's weird - the Pre3 hasn't appeared on a single leaked roadmap or inventory sheet for any carriers, but then again neither did the Veer (nor has the iPhone, pretty much ever). If the TouchPad announcement is any sign, though, we can probably make a few guesses.
It's safe to assume that AT&T is going to, at some point, be a partner with HP in shipping the Pre3. Perhaps not right away, but eventually we should see this happening. Why? For one, the HP Veer 4G is already running on AT&T quite nicely, and the TouchPad is planned to have an AT&T release later this Summer as well. It would make sense for the device that can be paired with the TouchPad to be on the same network, at least. For two, HP has already pushed an AT&T-compatible Pre3 through the FCC.
This does not rule out other carriers, though (don't get mad just yet). A Wi-Fi-only TouchPad will still play very nicely with a Sprint Pre3, for example. It is also entirely possible that other carriers will get some thirst for the money that's flowing through every single retail store online and off and will want to strike a deal with HP to bring the TouchPad/Pre3 duo to their network. So will we see a Sprint or Verizon Pre3/TouchPad this year? Still too early to tell, but never too early to hope.
As far as a release date goes, we still do have some time left in the Summer, and the Pre3 could be right on schedule to be released with the TouchPad on AT&T's network "later this Summer". One question that keeps coming up, "Why is it taking so much longer for the Pre3 to be launched? ("I don't need a tablet, I need a new smartphone!" and "If it doesn't come to Sprint I'm dumping webOS!", and so forth.)
Without putting too much blame on the carriers, we should recognize that carrier relationships do take time. The last time we saw a Pre3 being demoed, a couple months ago, it still needed some improvements to make it the phone that HP wants to put out there. No doubt, they aren't going to send a less-than-perfect device to carriers to review, so they had to get it finished, first. All carriers are diligent with their testing, some are more persnickety than others. While we only have anecdotal evidence about how long it takes for a smartphone to pass the review process at a carrier, it almost always takes at least a few months. It's not just the hardware they're looking at (which has always seemed great with the Pre3), but the stability of the software and how well it plays with their network. It takes time.
So the mantra of the season is going to have to be patience. We know a good many of you want that most excellent new webOS smartphone. We're right there with you. But these things can't be rushed. HP's all about the TouchPad right now, and they're going to continue to be so up to the release. There's plenty of time left in the "summer," so just hold on.
206 Comments
Summer hasn't even officially started yet, has it?
I mean, I think the "summer" release window is complete rubbish, but if you were ever onboard with it, you can hardly start complaining before June 21st, can you?
there should be some announcement by now. July 1 is summer also. They should be releasing TP and P3 same day
I don't disagree, but as I said...if you bought into these windows on Feb. 9, it's a little odd - not to mention early - to start complaining now.
I never did. Announcement-to-release windows of 3+ months in today's mobile tech world are inexcusable. That goes for Apple and their iOS 5 nonsense. That goes for HP and their entire lineup of WebOS device nonsense.
Thank you!! That was bugging the heck out of me reading this. "we still do have some time left in the Summer". Correct - and we even have time left in the spring!
Hilarious post. Thank goodness someone said it. Also, I'm glad that yours was the first comment. 8^D
All that expanse of shiny article and nary a mention of the fact that the Pre3 can be pre-ordered in Europe with slated release dates in late July?
Ah but I understand - the subhumans in Europe aren't as important as good American people, especially those on Sprint (real Gods among men judging from how much they feel entitled to). Know thy target audience and all that.
we have no clue if those dates are meaningful.
Sprint got on stage with Palm, declared the Pre their flagship, and implied an iphone like experience with frequent updates which also meant annual hardware updates at the least.
After 1.4.5, nothing. While other carriers received updates and new phones.
It's not about entitlement but abandonment. More than half of all webOS customers were on Sprint though this number has probably shrunk some since then.
It never made any sense to build up a majority base of customers using a 6 month exclusive period and then simply abandon them for other carriers.
How about you get off your cross, build a bridge out of it, and get over it my bitter old-country friend. The Europe release isn't validated.
Bwahahahah! Your comment IS satire, right?
75% of this website is "WAH WAH BUT WHEN'S IT COME TO SPRINT!" and you tell ME to 'get off your cross, build a bridge out of it, and get over it' and call me bitter?
Oh, and by the way: http://forums.precentral.net/hp-pre-3/285065-pre-3-shipping-update-germa...
Seems like German vendors are expecting it as early as late June... although yes, a healthy dose of salt is -never- a bad thing when dealing with resellers. As of now however, it does seem like German customers (who don't feel nearly as entitled as their American counterparts although they bought the same device under the same auspices) are getting an upgrade quite soon.
Have you ever raised children? If you have one that's constantly screaming for attention, and one that's really quiet most of the time, it may be good for BOTH of them if you deliberately and conspicuously ignore the loud, obnoxious one and pay attention to the quiet one instead :)
I'm an American. "Quiet patience" is not in my mission statement. Yelling like mad and demanding results is what has made us what we are. :)
Oh, and I am a parent. My son is quiet and patient, and my daughter is loud and demanding. They both get the same attention. I love them both for being who they are.
Did someone got a discount when iPhone 3G was released to replace the freaking iPhone gen1?
Sorry, not meant for you.
I just hope HP crosses that bridge over to us die-hard Sprint and WebOs fans.
I think every Pre, Pre+, Pixi or Pixi+ owner should get a TouchPad at a significant (is 100% too greedy?) discount when they upgrade to their new Pre3. This could be an offer from both HP and Carrier (Sprint/Verizon).
How's that for a bridge?
Did someone got a discount when iPhone 3G was released to replace the freaking iPhone gen1?
Yes.
Apple answered the public outcry. It didn't take two years. Apple had delivered everything they promised to the Gen 1 buyers. And they still felt their initial customer were worth the expense of a rebate, even though they were promised nothing and had no expectations.
Apple made things right, when nothing was wrong.
Given that Palm and HP are "American" companies, why don't you create your own "European" company and produce your own damn phones???
U know that companies like apple wouldnt be 1/10 as big if they didnt sell all over the world
Carrier relationships take time??!?!?!
Of course they do. That's wht HP should have been on this hard and fast a year ago. They knew they would have phones. They knew they would want to sell as many as possible.
A year ago HP didn't even own Palm. They couldn't say, "Hey, every carrier, we're going to make some good phones that will make you some money. We don't have them yet, but they'll be great. We promise."
It just takes some time to merge companies and get things on the shelf.
You are correct, they closed the Deal to buy Palm 7/1/10, the deal was made 4/2010.
Having said this, unless they figuared on writing off the new company they just ponied up 1.2 billion dollors - One would have to Figuar that they had their hands in the inner working of Palm, at least in the planning of new products (i.e. phones and carriers)
I really have no idea whether a buyer company can start doing much with the buy-ee company until they have dotted the i's and crossed the t's.
Honestly, if it takes you more than 5 months after official announcement (and likely a lot longer because the device was named and spec'd well before then) to get a US carrier to commit to carry it, you blew it.
In the modern smartphone world, most devices have roughly 9-12 months after announcement to shine and then they're reduced, replaced and/or EOLed. Since the Pre 3 has spent half of that time not even on shelves, the amount of time it will have to shine actually being for sale is minimal. See the fates of the Verizon HTC Trophy or HTC Merge. That's what the Pre 3 is facing.
And HP was already marketing their own line of smart phones.
Sure why don't they release the Pre3 at Xmas time? Man I am getting really edgy waiting for the Pre3. My contract has run out, I'm waiting for 3 months now for the device.
I love the platform but I need a faster handset and Skype !!! Eveybody else has it !!! HP/Palm seriously give us some release dates and whether networks will carry it in Europe or not !!!
hold on? haven't we been doing just that for two years
I think I have Hpalm's new theme song:
Ooh some day somebody's gonna make you want to
Turn around and say goodbye
Until then baby are you going to let them
Hold you down and make you cry
Don't you know?
Don't you know things can change
Things'll go your way
If you hold on for one more day
Can you hold on for one more day
Things'll go your way
Hold on for one more day (one more day)
Verse 2
You could sustain (you could sustain , you could sustain (echo))
Mmm or are you comfortable with the pain?
You've got no one to blame for your unhappiness (no baby)
You got yourself into your own mess (ooooooo)
Lettin' your worries pass you by (lettin' your worries pass you by)
Baby don't you think it's worth your time
To change your mind?
Chorus
Noo noo, some day somebody's gonna make you want to
Turn around and say goodbye
Until then baby are you going to let them
Hold you down and make you cry
Don't you know?
Don't you know things can change
Things'll go your way
If you hold on for one more day
Can you hold on for one more day
Things'll go your way (oh things'll go your way)
Hold on for one more day
Breakdown
I know that there is pain
But you hold on for one more day
And you break free from the chains
Yeah I know that there is pain
But you hold for one more day
Wilson-Phillips nice! LOL
Did you really have to post all the lyrics to get the joke across? Remind me not to ever have you tell me a knock-knock joke. You will probably give the 20 minute back story before you answer "Who's there?" :)
yes. the whole lyrics were necessary to convey the true pain ;)
Haha, I can't argue with that logic.
I'm one of those original sprint pre people and I have kept with my pre (minus) because I love webOS. But I'm off contract now, so could go in tomorrow and buy an Android phone and be done with all the painful waiting. I have to blame HP and Palm. It is absurd that you cannot convince a carrier to pick up at least one top level smartphone in the span of two years (even though you've only come out with two). Shame on HP for leaving us in the cold for so long.
I have to blame HP here. Sure Palm did the announcement for the Pre 6 months before the Pre hit the market but at least Palm identified their release partner and release date where as HP hasn't done either one yet.
If they had been clear from the beginning most of us that are hanging on to dying phones would have bought a different phone and then buy the Pre3 when it became ready and would have taken away all that frustration this has caused us.
What HP doesn't realize is most of us on Sprint using a Pre are dealing with a phone that could die at any moment with no replacement to go for. This is a scary and frustrating situation for those of us that use the phone for enterprise purposes. Sure you can brag about your automatic backup but if you don't have another webOS phone available for me to buy and replace my dead phone with what is that automatic backup good for?
Yep, that's why I'm going into the Sprint store on the 24th and checking out the Evo 3D. I think that's going to be the replacement for me. I'm tired of waiting, waiting for them to 'make things right', or even announce when/if I might even be allowed to purchase a new WebOS phone on Sprint.
I'd love to blame HP, but then why wouldn't HP want a device on Sprint...where half of their customers presently reside.
I think the blame lands squarely on Sprint stuck in Android and Wimax la la land trying to convince webOS customers to make the switch.
Nope...that's not going to happen! Do people really like Android phones...yikes what a **** operating system, they call that multitasking, and the tablet software barely works.
Sorry I'm getting off my stump, some things Google do work and I like some of their native apps, but they really need to step up their Tablet efforts since app development is pretty stagnant or simply non-existent. When it comes to the Pre 3...I like many original Sprint Pre- user can wait a little while longer. Sooner would be better, but Leo did say if it wasn't perfect it won't ship. Maybe he was being honest! Sorli...
I agree Sprint is stuck on Android. When my Pre died I was given an option of getting a free EVO or just a replacement for my Pre since I had already played around with an EVO I chose to stick with another Pre.
Android phones may be fast and have fancy features but they do things in such a round about way that really lowers the user experience.
Every day that goes by makes me so glad that I jumped in and got the Veer on launch day. Also made me realize that all 3 carriers are pretty much the same. No reason to stick to any of them. Att is like 15 bucks more a month and is not unlimited but I am around wifi so much that its not really a bother to me to be capped at 4gb. Granted i used to love tethering till the cows come home but the speed increase with H+ is very significant over my previous 3g experience. I have noticed some apps that used to timeout constantly and would get bad user reviews was just a matter of lack of bandwidth.
I'm in refurb he11 with my Pre-. I've had to change out 8 bad Pre's in a month for one thing or another (speakers, headset jack, no keyboard light) Every time I go in, they try to give me an Android instead. I feel like an a-hole going back every week trying to land one fully-functional Pre. I will be giving up if the Pre3 doesn't go to Sprint..
Nothing personal my friend, but that's just foolish. I loved webOS, but it's not even close to superior enough to put up with **** like that.
I jumped to Android in March and am not sorry. webOS is better for sure, but the FAR superior hardware of my EVO plus the huge advantage in apps more than makes up for the clunkier OS.
I'd come back to webOS if HP ever releases a candybar device with a 4" or bigger screen. But until that point I am likely going to stay an Android guy, at least on my phone.
A candybar with a 4" screen?
I'm in the same boat: 4 Refurbs in a month. I've given up and am sticking with the last refurb for which I must pinch the earjack to hear people on the phone.
Please HP. Let me give you money for a new phone. Please?
Tim-
No offense, you're a good writer and seem like a nice guy, but this is BS. All the Precentral editors have been HP apologists all year. We have been given ZERO information. Precentral has not called out HP for lack of info in any way, not did it honestly call out the flaws in the Veer (see Josh Topolsky's review).
You know like I do the majority of us WebOS users on this site are Sprint Pre- users, the MOST likely to purchase Pre3. If HP doesnt get a **** load of Pre3's into it's largest base at Sprint before we all buy Nexus S 4G's they will never get the necessary buzz. They are doing a crappy job in getting these devices out, building carrier relationships and generating buzz. They're more Nokia than Apple right now.
You and Derek have the forum and voice for the base to speak for all of us and get them the message.
really? c-r-a-p gets asterisked out?
...people were saying too much about "c-r-a-p" this, c*** that, in the context of the one and only Palm, HPalm, their phones and policies, so this is not P.C. word here anymore.
While I am an avid Sprint customer and a diehard WebOS enthusiast - I agree with someone's comment a while back (likely not even in this thread). HP doesn't have to do much of anything for Sprint Pre- users - they're "resetting" the playing field and starting from scratch - kind of like the "second coming of WebOS". I hope to God that the Pre3 comes to Sprint so that I can use it with my brand spankin' new launch day Touchpad... but if it doesn't come to Sprint - I may just hang on to my limping Pre-. I have the BEST PLAN ever with Sprint (1500 Anytime minutes, UNLIMITED data, family plan with 2 lines, for $85/month INCLUDING taxes!) How can I pass up this plan?!
?!? I pay ~$160 for three lines (still several parsecs cheaper than the competition...) with the same specs and that's with a 22% discount on the first line (mine). How is it that yours is so much lower?!?
M.
Why are you only getting the discount on one line? I get it off the WHOLE BILL. I'm also getting $20 off/month for a total of 24 months (ends next year) - by calling retentions and bitching a lot (search for my post about that in the forums). Some people just have a better roll of the dice ;-)
All of those Sprint Pre- owners that jump ship to an Android phone (e.g. EVO 3D) are very unlikely to buy a webOS-based HP TouchPad. I sure hope HP realizes that losing the phone base is also losing the tablet base. Who wants to buy apps on Android AND buy them on webOS?
Very True! I hate to admit it but if there is no Pre 3 on Sprint I won't be purchasing a Touchpad. I want both devices together. I don't really want to move to Android but I have a great deal at Sprint and if there is no Pre 3 (or some other WebOS device) I'll be forced to move to android when my Pre dies. :-(
edit:
Also don't blame HP. I blame Sprint, they choose which phones they plan to support.
I wouldn't put it past HP to think that they'll drive phone adoption *from* the TouchPad sales. "See, Sprint?!, we've sold X tablets to people and now they'll want a phone that works with it."
Whether or not that will actually happen is another matter.
It's Sprint's ballgame, primarily because HP has botched this release schedule so stupidly. And believe me, I'm hoping... still on my first Pre-.
What do you expect them to do, wave their arms and scream in Sunnyvale? This website is for webOS enthusiasts so, in my humble opinion, the purpose of this site is to have a glass half full attitude.
Nothing the editors can do about release times. I'm sure that Hpalm employees know about our rage and the disappointment the Sprint base feels.
More emails to dan@sprint.com is a good way to vent frustration because it is all but apparent that it's up to Sprint to make this deal happen.
It's not that I think they can actually accomplish something, but I would've liked them to say something. Like I said every article comes off as apologists. "Wahh, it's really hard to make carrier relationships". Please, everyone does it, HP is no stranger to business, they bought Palm a looong time ago. This should be in the bag.
A site like PreCentral is especially positioned well to pester HP about how they plan to "make things right". Unless their feet are kept to the fire, HP is likely to let us all forget about their promise. PreCentral could certainly create a lot of bad press if HP breaks that promise.
+1
https://www.facebook.com/sprint?sk=wall&filter=12 works too...
On the contrary HP reps read these websites that is how they do their market analysis. If the editors reflect our frustrations with the lack of phones the news will travel to the top brass at HP.
If we had opened the topic sooner and had left the topic up on the front page then HP would have had to respond to it in one way or another.
We are not just talking about first webOS adopters here we are talking about Palm user base being frustrated with the lack of device. We are not just talking about people that have webOS phone wanting to upgrade we are talking about people that are using PalmOS phones too that wanted to skip the first version of webOS but now that we are at webOS 2.x there is no phone for them to purchase.
I think you misunderstood my post. I meant to convey that I believe that HP/Palm DO read this website and DO have a grasp on the anger, and they have from the first weeks since the Feb event.
I don't believe that leaving an angry message via the editors on the front page will get us anywhere or will inform any additional HP reps.
I suspect they ready the comments... just a suspicion.
Sorry if I misunderstood but an editor doesn't have to write an angry post they can write a critical post about HP's decisions.
HP talks about getting into enterprise market but really us who use phones at enterprise level we don't need phones with all the bells and whistles we need good support. Those of us on Sprint have had anything but good support. Heck for the past 8 months Sprint hasn't been selling the Pre and haven't got any of the other models of the Pre. They don't even have the Pixi in stock.
I use my phone on minute basis and the fact that it could die on me and I wouldn't be able to go to the store and buy a new phone to replace it with really worries me. Sorry but this isn't how you support enterprise market.
If HP/Palm really had a grasp on the anger they would "Make Things Right" and stop ignoring our posts. Someone from HP's customer relations would have the guts post a message on P|C and break the silence.
This is a tech site, not Jonesville, or the Oceanian Province. Blind optimisim is not required.
No way in **** am I buying a Nexus S (neither is my wife), but go ahead and speak for the small amount of Sprint users still on a Pre-.
thats the problem here. I went with my wife to check out the Nexus S and we were horrified by how much worse Android is than WebOS. But Im not leaving the Sprint prices and I'm not confident Sprint is releasing the Pre3 anytime soon, and my Pre- is barely hanging on, her's is worse
I'm done with Sprint (as I have said many times in the forums and on the front page), if they have the Pre3/Veer/or other WebOS device with physical keyboard when our contract is up in the fall I will consider staying.
The $10 per line fee has placed them square in the price arena with ATT and VZW. I will miss my unlimited data and Sprint Nav, but they are pricing themselves into a market where they are no longer the only carrier for us.
It is looking like there is a good chance we will land at AT&T this fall (and I have been anti AT&T for a long time).
We will see if Sprint can pull anything off by October.
No offense, but you seem to contradict yourself.
"The $10 per line fee has placed them square in the price arena with ATT and VZW." This implies that the plans are price competitive.
"I will miss my unlimited data and Sprint Nav..." This admits the plans are NOT competitive if you still get unlimited data and free navigation with Sprint.
(No, I do not work for Sprint.)
2-3 million Sprint Pres/Pixis does not equal a small amount...
There might have been 2-3 million WebOS users globally TOTAL at one point. No longer. Sprint might have low-to-mid six figures worth now. MIGHT.
Would love to know how you know this? Has this ever been announced. Sorli...
I was a Pre- user but got tired of waiting and I love my Nexus S 4g.
Couldn't agree more.
We get yelled at for being negative. We get yelled at for being positive. We get yelled at for being neutral and not stating any opinion at all.
So, in essence, we're going to get yelled at regardless of what we do.
It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to.
Or, as I say: If I lock my kids in a padded white room, they should never get hurt.
Armchair virtual criticism is the new past-time Derek. You are in the world's largest dunk tank, and we all have a pocket full of change. Sorry Bro.
Being honest is not necessarily negative. In this case being honest would be to slam HP. I think TSD is too much of a cheerleader in this post. But he's a good man.
Stop yelling at us Derek!
Think you've done as well as you can do. Can't please anyone all of the time.
People don't all think the same so there will always be someone that would disagree but then again that's the beauty of this world.
You have done a fine job but in my opinion if you write a critical post then all the negative comments will be posted there instead of spreading to every post that you write about. Then again this is just my opinion.
I bet that wouldn't be the case.
All the more reason to fire off more yo mama jokes!
The problem here was obvious: Announcing these devices on Feb. 9 with nebulous release dates, then filling the void in between with the same repetitive demos over and over.
Contrast that with HTC. HTC Sensation announced in April. On sale two months later.
Samsung Galaxy S II announced in February. Available in Korea and Europe two months later.
By contrast, the Veer was released a little more than three months after announcement, the Touchpad almost five, and the Pre 3 is still a big question mark. You can't blame US carriers for that. Even the devices that need no carrier approval (Touchpad) are late, late, late to market.
"No doubt, they aren't going to send a less-than-perfect device to carriers to review, so they had to get it finished, first."
Huh, that never stopped Palm.
It's not stopping HP either.
never stopped anyone. ever pick up the kyocera echo? omg
Echo is a disaster I can't believe Sprint made such a big deal about that phone.
Palm doesn't own Palm anymore.
The Pre3 isn't outdated... yet. It's not aging gracefully on the shelf, though. No smartphone ages gracefully on the shelf, and there are some features missing from the Pre3 that could really benefit webOS users. NFC, Gyroscope, Video Out, micro-SD slot for more storage, a real 4G data radio...
The longer HP tries to polish a 6 month old handset, the longer it's going to be before a slab phone or the next generation device launches. No offense, but if HP is tired of missing product cycles, they're not showing it by taking their sweet time developing a quickly aging device.
NFC i can do without, b/c i think by the time it really takes off we will be all ready for our next phone. 4G seems like a BIG miss to be (esp if paying for the $10 surcharge on Sprint anyway), and missing sensors and video out is a shortcoming. RAM and Processor should be up to todays standards, considering WebOS is easier to run than Androis (from what I understand).
no 4g by now is a huge fail for this phone, it wasn't that bad when they were supposed to launch earlier but once i got my veer i realized that I can never go back to 3g speeds. So honestly unless it comes to ATT or they somehow slipped a 4g radio by the FCC i will rock the veer happily and I would say anyone on the fence its worth going in and picking up.
Actually, *every* smartphone on Sprint now will require the $10 surcharge. It's not just for 4G devices. Come time to upgrade, I'm going to ask them to waive that ridiculous surcharge, and see how much my retention means to them. I've been a loyal Sprint customer for 11 years - that's gotta mean something.
Hello All,
As a constant HPalm basher recently (c'mon, they deserved it, don't they?), it might be surprising what I have to say: on the contrary to what has been said here, IMHO, Pre 3 stands quite a good chance to become well-selling mainstream device (under some conditions):
* it has solid, mainstream specification - nothing high-end, but it is not aimed at high end - but mainstream.
* Screen size IMHO is on the verge of "perfect compromise", if there is such thing.
* Screen resolution is very decent, although I'd like them to go that extra little distance to 640x960, still, on the screen that size, we are talking about pixel sizes that human eye cannot recognize in any circumstances but squinting from few centimeters distance - and barely.
* that 1.4 GHz proc speed is one spec sheet feature that stands out, even higher than high-end handsets, and people by and large DO compare tech devices by spec sheet numbers, regardless how misleading it really is.
* I personally think that vertical QWERTY slider is about the best FF ever, demo it hard, together with JustType, and boy, what a killer feature it is! You can only appreciate it fully, when you don't have it anymore
* bear in mid, that this £350 Sterling price that has surfaced, might seem quite steep if you just convert it into $$$, by using exchange rate calculators. But believe me, it is most inapropriate. High-end droids are selling for the £120 to nearly £200 MORE, on this side of Atlantic. So, there's a good chance that Pre 3 will be "free on contract" from get-go. Untapped market of non-smartphone users, anyone???
* webOS will be SCREAMING fast on that 1.4GHz Snapdragon proc, regardles high-end is dual core now - remember, we are talking mainstream, not high end here. Although it is quite surprizing to see single-core proc, when built-for-multitasking webOS would greatly benefit - and more than any other mobile OS on the market - from dual-core proc, still, it should not really matter too much. If you have ever overclocked your original Pre to @1GHz, you'll know what I am talking about
But, these strong points above will make any difference ONLY, and ONLY if:
* they freaking RELEASE the phone, so people can freaking buy it, yeah?
* Pre 3 hardware and build quality is top-notch, and 180deg U-turn from the crappy, falling apart first gen Pres. If the build quality is cheap, if slider is not rock-solid as a freaking hydraulic ram, it will not fly, for n-th time.
* HP must commit to a full-on, immense marketing effort, and the "right" one at that, not the one that screams "me too" - as TouchPad home site, for example (and I am not talking about some NY subway farts, either, or other printed magazine full-cover add, or some funny people "using" it). You need to break the message, why it is so awesome, that webOS thing. You do know why, do you, HPalm?
* HP invest hard, or fricking bribe operators/frontline sales people to evangelize Pre 3 to THE CUSTOMER, one-on-one. Heck, negotiate special incentive programs for operator's sales people, pay them hard cash for every freaking webOS device sold! As much as enthusiast can evangelize products, it is frontline salesman, who will have a final word to convince folks entering phone shops, to get their next phones.
* the rumored price HAS to remain as the rumor has it, it cannot be higher. It is a mainstream smartphone specification, so it is only fair to expect a mainstream smartphone price. It cannot afford high-end price. You have made one mistake with TouchPad pricing, it is bad enough, but you cannot afford another.
So, to wrap it up: quite good specification (frankly, at some stage, adding cores, MHz, resolution - it doesn't really matters anymore, if the user experience is top-notch already, or a human eye can hardly recognize increase in resolution, because of pixel size), for the appropriate price, wrapped up into some delightfull marketing campaign, with webOS experience as the icing on the cake - THIS might catch on, and sell the numbers, that you need, HPalm, that WE, users, need, to attract developers to write some decent apps, that DEVELOPERS need, to make their living...
Do not scr3w this one, HPalm, rumors start to sound encouraging... Keep it that way!
Mobile tech pundits are already greeting the Pre 3 with a yawn. It's been too long since the announcement. The Pre 3 certainly wasn't a superphone when it was announced and it's not even that compelling five months later.
AT&T obviously is dragging its feet due to lack of interest and sales of the Veer, if you can call a free phone a sale, probably haven't got Sprint salivating over the possibility of a non-exclusive phone that won't sell that well.
I'm calling it right here, folks - the Pre 3 is destined to meet the same fate as the Pre 2. That is, launched by a European carrier first and a soft launch in the US some months later.
Well, you're half right already (On the Europe first part).
Kinda sad for an American electronics giant, but par for the course.
...disagree - see my reply to above thread - it is by no means a "superphone", but it also does not bear the superphone's price tag, apparently...
Ahhh come on - lets forget the silly Pre 3 and get to the next generation WebOS phone and be done with it!
If they announce the Stringray for a summer release on Sprint, I will be thrilled.
as a 'voice' for the webos community, Precentral hasn't done much to get answers..anything. This is probably where the largest concentration of enthusiasts online, but still, after 5 months, nothing on the Pre 3. I have to agree that you can only play the 'carrier negotiations' card so many times, then it starts to not make sense anymore. On top of that, the lack of specs concerning the TouchPad and Pre3 is troubling as well. How many times have people asked...HOW LONG WILL THEY LAST?? Nothing. And they want people to pre-order on what, trust? No, you test the product, you 'optimize' the software until you cant anymore, then you test again and release real numbers to the public so they can decide whether or not this is something they should invest in. In the mobile world, I hate to tell you this, but battery life matters. Maybe HP thinks they can bypass this entirely and avoid the question because the TouchStones will make up for the lack of engineering on the battery technology.
Surprising that the ridiculous Pre man hasn't shown its face to pressure HP in a kidding way, only this time its not really that funny.
BTW don't underestimate Touchstone. Still can't believe HTC hasn't built wireless charging into flagship devices yet.
Unlike PAAAAAALM!, HPEEEEEE! has plenty of ski mask wearing thugs to keep him quiet.
I really want to get a Pre3 but I just can't keep waiting. I bought a Pixi as a secondary phone and unlocked it just so I could play with webOS. Hopefully there will be a Pre4 when I need a new phone next year.
According to Boy Genius, the Pre 3 will be released in Europe on July 8th.
http://www.bgr.com/2011/06/16/hp-pre-3-appears-on-u-k-retailer-website-j...
Gingerbread is starting to turn my head. Whatever advantages webOS had, they're quickly vanishing for me.
Thankfully, I'll get to put my hands on a Pre 3 and then make up my mind. It's about time.
When you are doing something, and you have pandora playing, emails, texts coming in, twitter feed updates, and all that is nicely tucked away on the bottom to get in and out of - Nothing comes close to that experience on WebOS.
Absolutely agree, have Gingerbread phone currently (HTC Desire S), love the hardware, missing vertical QWERTY slider, and HATE the OS itself.
But that hardware, and apps, my God, if only Pre 3 comes CLOSE to that...
The problem for me is always being behind. I'm having issues with multiple calendars in one Google account right now. Flash performance is bad (I sometimes have to look at pages for business information and if the page uses flash, I can't get information easily as compared to Android). We're just now about to get our first auto focus cam... lame (but appreciated!) Battery life is abysmal. App selection continues to pale in comparison to other markets.
I think the world of the OS and it's potential, but it's been handled poorly and it shows. I'll take functionality over potential if it continues to disappoint. I love my Pre Plus with all the patches I love to use. I can get to stuff pretty quick and do great business calls with it. I can't ignore how well Android is progressing though. It would be silly.
The Veer is out, the Touchpad is almost here (actual release date within 2 weeks now), and now it's just the Pre 3 that remains. I can empathize with Palm in that they are trying to get stuff out the door and the closer they get, the more upset people are because it's not ALL out (or at least revealed).
That being said, I can also understand the frustrations of people who've been waiting months (or a year or more!) for an upgrade to their aging phone. One of my biggest issues with these sorts of things is lack of info. It's great that we know a lot about the Pre3, but without dates or carrier info, it's just a form of torture - here's a cool new device, but we're not going to tell you when you might get it (other than "summer") or what carriers might offer it. Thus people are left to guess about it. It's amazing to me that after 4 months of waiting, Palm still can't reveal this information. Either they are still tied up in talks with carriers (which would be ridiculous after so long), or they have other strategic reasons for not telling us.
What they risk is losing lots of former fans, like myself, because we just get tired of waiting endlessly with no information.
I've been a Sprint Customer for 7 years and I'm not planning to leave them for a variety of reasons. Because of the lack of info regarding them offering the Pre3, I can only assume that they won't be. So I'm going with the Evo 3D when it comes out next week. As much as I love webOS and Palm, at a certain point it doesn't make sense to keep waiting and hoping. Essentially Palm is asking me to take a bet on them that they will offer something on Sprint, but with no "odds" so that means I have to calculated the odds myself based on rumors and other information. Well, my information tells me it's unlikely at this point, which means I can take a bet that has poor odds and wait (and then feel even more dissapointed at wasting all this time if Sprint doesn't come out with the phone) or just move on. I'm taking the latter. Heck, if we get a surpise and Sprint offers the phone, I'm sure I can sell the Evo 3D for more than what I can buy a Pre3 for!
I also agree with slivkjs above. I think while there are certainly people at Palm/HP pulling for the current community of users out there, even including Richard Kerris, they can only go so far. Because we are relatively few in number, if HP could ensure huge sales by doing something that would ensure 80% of the current userbase would leave, they'd do it in a heartbeat. They are a business after all, not some club. There's a tight-knit community that revolves around webOS, but let's not forget that as enthusiastic as we are, and valuable (to some extent) to HP, we're still not so valuable that HP needs to go out of its way to placate us if it's not in their overall best interests when it comes to making a big splash and selling 10x or more the number of phones than they did in the last 2 years, which they will need to do in order to become a player of any kind in this industry...
I appreciate the even-handedness of your comments, but I think you're overlooking something major:
At this point, HP isn't trading "a few old webOS fans" for "tons of new webOS fans," HP is instead creating "a few really, really pissed off webOS fans, who, typically being savvy and knowledgeable geeks, will be bad-mouthing HP when their friends ask 'WHat smartphone should I get?'"
Trading legions of customers for a few is good business. Turning the few into actively disparaging former customers is really, really NOT good business.
I think that's a possibility, but I also think that they think so many people have left the platform (and are now "disparaging" it), that another band of them isn't going to make much difference in the scheme of things. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they are trying to push former people away, just that they are doing what they believe is in their best interest, and if they have to jump through too many hoops to placate "legacy" users, that they won't do it.
In a sense, I think HP especially views webOS as a huge selling point, so their eyes are on getting it out in the most sellable form factors (at least according to them), like tablet, and eventually laptops and printers. While Palm may be all about phones, that hasn't been HP's business, and so it's not their priority, except as a driver of additional interest in the OS.
I also think that while people may be pissed at waiting and finally jump ship when they find the Pre3 won't be on Sprint, it's one thing to have had a bad experience, but very few are going to take every opportunity to bad-mouth HP just because of that. Mostly people are just not going to mention them. Now, if they really do become a player again, then if people are asked, they may relate that story, but I'm not sure it's going to carry a lot of weight because it doesn't say that the product is bad, just that the company (like many... most? others) is out to make money above anything else, and lets face it, Palm has been very supportive of the community in general, they just have been very tightlipped about release dates and carrier info. This pisses us off because most of us need new phones at this point, but it's also partly on us that we didn't jump ship a year or so ago when there was no info about any future devices coming out for many many months. At least that's why I can only be so mad at Palm. I decided to stick around. I have, at least mostly, myself to blame. Not that it was horrible to wait this long, since I got plenty of good use out of my phone. But at this point I'm ready to move on. I understand a lot of people view this more personally, but I can't stop thinking that, as much of an enthusiast as I am, that this really just is a smartphone, and there are plenty others out there. They may not have some of the things webOS has, but they have other things that it doesn't...
> "If they have to jump through too many hoops" ...
"Too many"? What did I miss? When did HP jump through ANY hoops to "placate" the webOS faithful?
Specially that their make things right so far has been making us wait to see if Sprint will even get a phone forget about making it right.
AMEN! HP has don't nothing but pawn off another "sometime soon" promise to "make things right" but have since done absolutely nothing and completely ignore customers inquiring of the details. After months of hearing nothing many of us are p!ssed off
When Ruby laughs 50 times during the Engadget Show Podcast and shrugs "summer" he doesnt get this isnt a joke to many people. I dont have to be a bleeding edge technophile to need a good phone. I rely on my smartphone of choice to many vital things and at this point its hard to live with out it. Right now a 2 year old Pre- doesnt cut it not because the technology is old, but b.c it literally doesnt work. I cant get basic stuff done anymore. So stop joking around and get some info out. We should have a carrier by now.
Good points. One thing will say in regards to your first paragraph, I believe the underlying issue is the order in which the devices were released. I think most people would have preferred the Pre3 and Touchpad respectively and the Veer bringing up the reer. The release order along with carrier drama are what is creating the discontent, imo
I tried to read your post but all is saw was "That being said..." and a wall of text.
Are you saying, "TL;DR"?
Launch Day Pre owner. Convinced 3 people to buy Pres.
So, Pre 3: No news, no dates, no carriers.
No apps, no new form factor.
Preordered Evo 3D, bought wife Epic 4G, you blew it HP.
persnickety |pərˈsnikətē|
adjective informal
(1) placing too much emphasis on trivial or minor details; fussy : persnickety gardeners | she's very persnickety about her food.
(2) requiring a particularly precise or careful approach : it's hard to find a film more persnickety and difficult to use than black-and-white infrared.
ORIGIN early 19th cent. (originally Scots): of unknown origin.
My Vocabulary just got a +1
Bottom line is that Sprint is probably cutting their losses and going with what is making money. It's just good business. They may come back to webos if it starts making money in the future. I don't blame sprint, but still wished they were getting the Pre3. I would be first in line to buy one. I would be surprised if they get any webos device(s) this year unless HP throws money at them.
I was at the biggest Sprint store in our city last week checking out Windows 7 phone and I spoke to the store manager.
Me: Have you heard anything about the Pre3 and if Sprint will carry it?
Him: Pre 3? I thought Palm was sauce
Me: No, Hp bough them and the Pre 3 will be released sometimes in the future
Him: I did not even know that there is such thing as the Pre 3
Me: Do you think Sprint will carry it?
Him: I am not the decision maker but there is a really bad taste in Sprint's mouth for anything Palm related, the Pre historically is the worst phone that Sprint ever carried when it comes to repair/return rate so I doubt we will carry it until it is proven to be a good phone.
"Sprint is probably cutting their losses and going with what is making money"
Um, two words: Kyocera Echo
Its official: Palm UK Facebook confirms Pre3 "by midsummer"
As opposed to when Jon Rubinstein officially said "summer" over four months ago? Guess they can take down this article now.
They only made that post today, cause I made a post this morning asking them about the 8th of July date !!!!!
The wait for a release date is so painful, I dont know how to express it here. Not to talk of the wait for the actual release of the PRE3. Really, I have HAD dreams of suing HP for promising to have products ready for release around 2weeks from announcement but now its been months since feb announcement and nothing. i'm thinking small court or supreme court enough to make a national spectacle about this. i dont care if i lose or not. I think i've grown an anxiety disorder, waiting and checking this website everyday only to find NO NEWS.
Hmm, I wonder if the promise to "make things right" could be construed as a verbal contract?
HP needs to read this comment section closely. There are too many Pre fans with Sprint whose 2 year contract ended. If they wait too long, either Sprint will lose (jump to another career) or HP/Palm loses (switch phones).
As phones fail (as they inevitably will), they will be replaced and if Pre 3 is not available it will be something else.
On the brighter side, my wife's Pre minus with Sprint had the head phone jack failure last week and was readily replaced by Sprint, while the rep at our Sprint store said they were already preparing for Pre 3. This has to be taken with a large grain of salt, but at least at the ground level, Sprint is listening.
My speculation is that HP and Sprint want it to work out, but can't yet, so can't/won't release any info. It makes sense, however, to do this soon and keep the Sprint Pre users for another 2 year contract.
In all fairness, Sprint may be waiting until after the launch of the EVO 3D for the Pre 3. HP may also be waiting until after the launch of the TouchPad.
Disclosure: I am an engineer. Here is a short play on the way I think things went down at HP in Q3-Q4 2010:
HP sales/marketing: Hey engineers, when will we be ready to ship webos2.0?
HP Engineers: Q1 2011
Sales: Great! We will plan a huge launch event for Feb 2011 then! Someone go tell Leo!
Engineers: Sounds good.
January 2011 - Sales: Hey engineers, how are we doing on 2.0?
Engineers: good
Feb 1, 2011 - Sales: we ready to ship?
Engineers: No. We have at least 6 more months of debugging. Oh and we created a new OS for the tablet. And a new framework. And 2.0 will not work on legacy devices.
Sales: ummm, what do we tell carriers, customers, and developers?
Engineers: Not my job man... make something up.
Sad thing is this is probably very similar to what happened with the Sprint Pre.
this is the conversation between HP and Sprint...
HP: hey Sprint, remember us? New name, same face, would you like to sign on to carry our new stuff?
Sprint: Hm, the Pre didn't do so well. And our Android stuff is really bringing in the cash, a real performer. Oh! And we'll carry the iPhone 5 later this year. Sooo..no thanks!
HP: Please help us out. We have been partners for almost two years. There are still loyal Pre users who need to have this happen, we do not want to disappoint them. Is there any way I can convince you to carry our products again, maybe with a little cash?
Sprint: Mmm, that _would_ help, but we don't know how webos will do again. I mean, the Pre really, really tanked. And you created two products that look very similar to the Pre, and even named one of them Pre3. Put yourself in my shoes...would you really want to be on Sprint again after doing so badly? Wouldn't you want to totally erase the idea of the Pre and create something different and better? I mean, why didn't you do a slab or something?
HP: Well, Jon Rubenstein feels strongly about the Pre design, you know, it looks like a river pebble, zen-like. And we thought if we made one really small and made one bigger than the Pre, that people would be pleased with our decision. Oh! Did I mention we have a tablet too coming out?
Sprint: Yeah, saw that. It's okay, looks like the first iPad. Still though, webos is not a proven market asset. It all sounds good on paper and demos, but it's a big risk for us to do that. And now that Tmobile and ATT are teaming up later, we are really in on thin ice with which devices we carry. Android is strong right now, so we will go with that.
HP: Okay, we tried. Now I will put off telling the public, that even though I promised to make it up to legacy owners for not bringing 2.0 to the table, we will still try and make you happy. But if Sprint isn't game, does this promise of making it up still apply now?
More like:
HP: hey Sprint, remember us? New name, same face, would you like to sign on to carry our new stuff?
Sprint: are you effin nuts?
I'm at the point where I honestly don't care which carrier it comes out on. I have WiFi at home and at work (the 3 Pre's on my plan used a combined 1.7 GB of Sprint data in our heaviest use month since last October), so the unlimited data that Sprint offers to me means very little. Since I'll be charged the "premium data fee" to upgrade my lines (non-SERO customers subsidizing the savings of SERO customers), the cost won't be that different for me to jump ship to a different carrier. My contracts are fulfilled, so the only thing keeping me from switching carriers today, is the lack of Pre 3 on any US carriers at this moment.
You Missed:
Sprint: Another Pre? Do you know how many returns/repairs we had on those? The power button always broke. Problems with the headphone adapter galore. Screens cracking from folks mashing that door to the USB port against the side every time they plugged it in. We've never had a phone with so many repairs/returns. **** NO.
"There are still loyal Pre users who need to have this happen, we do not want to disappoint them."
Not likely, HP has shown us legacy users no concern what so ever! They don't care about us one iota.
I am an Engineer too...and actually sometimes what you described happens. However most of the time sales people tend to sell stuff that you don't even have !!! And then you are running to make it !!! So there is another side to the coin...
Lauch-day Spring Pre- user here. Mark me down as being in the group that has a device that is hanging on by threads and I would love to make the switch to a Pre3. But, if the hardware dies before HP can get a WebOS device to Sprint, then I will likely be an Android user for at least the next 2 years. My wife & sister already made the jump as their lauch day Pre- phones were not able to hold out long enough.
Consider this:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230349920457638729013775285...
An example of why early information about product releases is managed very carefully. Loose lips sink ships.
As much as I hate waiting and seeing all this new tech coming from HTC, Samsung, Sony or otherwise I'd rather have the right product then **** just thrown together (Playbook).
Thankfully my Pre- on Sprint is holding together, but it won't forever and either Sprint comes through or I'll have to jump over to Verizon/ATT to stay with webOS.
Actually my wife has been ever so slowing leaning to IOS and a new iPhone on Verizon. I guess anything is possible for the right price and we can live with iPhone limited OS till something better arrives.
I've used both iPhone and Android personally and professionally and Android is better on many levels (IOS 5 may fix much of these problems), but they really don't have great app support and developers won't work for free forever. Either way, I feel bad for those Pre- users who don't have an option and I won't take something less then what webOS already provides. For me, Android is less! Sorli...
When Palm created the Pre line, it was targeting those who had gravitated to the iOS offerings. They brought along the Palm hand-held faithful who had crossed the Red Sea into the land of Treo's and Centro's.
What they had in the pipeline was better iterations and better hardware to continue to woo the nascent smartphone public. But, they lacked scale to reach consumers in a meaningful way. And, Apple continued to innovate and Google totally rocked the smartphone market in ways unforeseen by Palm in 2009.
Along comes HP and slowly adapts to the vagaries of smartphone OS's. They see a market opportunity to sell printers, and they want a piece of the hand-held computing pie. Smartphone customers represent a huge potential market and HP wanted a part of that market.
While HP adapts to the Palm-lens of handhelds, Palm adapts to the HP lens of scale and enterprise. Like it or not, Apple and its iTunes-centric model (and more so, it's as-yet untested iCloud structure), Android with OS fragmentation and modification issues, RIM which should be heir-apparent but has stalled, and Microsoft which has stumbled at the gate all fail to entice enterprise purchases.
There is huge exodus of Palm tech people because they didn't sign on for this challenge of scaling up and closing down the open model a little so that enterprise can buy skads and skads of handsets for their employees. Everything that works for a handset, must now also work for a tablet, and a desktop and a toaster. This translates into more time to develop, test and fortify from a legal, trademark, patent, and marketing perspective.
HP and the remainder of Palm have signed on for the long view. Once the Pre3 is finally out and supported by all three (four?) major carriers in the U.S., the iterations will follow quick-a-pace.
HP will have optimized itself to handle this kind of vertical development/production/marketing (it never did this before). Palm will have a rugged platform that's scalable, securable, powerful, and close to the bones of the web (Microsoft could only dream of that kind of efficient architecture). Together they'll have unprecedented reach beyond carriers into big box stores and throughout enterprise domains.
Before Apple released its first iPhone, there was little demand or impatience. They were defining the smartphone market for consumers in a heavily structured and quality controlled manner. Palm tried to grow this into a product that would satisfy what it called "pro-sumers." HP will break open the market in ways that only it can: enterprise fleets of handsets and tablets to be sold in gross lots, and, oh-by-the-way consumers can get theirs, too.
We were the faithful early adopters. But the rapidly expanding market that we once comprised the majority of has just been reduced to a niche market: the visionary consumer who likes to mod his/her phone and have the power of the Internet in the palm of his/her hands. Yes, we've been forsaken, or at least put interminably on hold. Yes, Palm values us and it's clear that HP sees the WebOS Internals and other Homebrewing consumers as a competitive advantage over the other platforms. But we're not the majority anymore. If we're patient (and many of us have run out of patience) this vision will become a standard in a rapidly evolving tech market.
Everyone needs to chill and stop moaning about Sprint and the Pre3. My Pre minus is on life-support now. Has been for a year. I keep it in its cloth coverlet and polish it like an old family heirloom. However, I know that the disparaging of lack of trinkets (15 megapixel cameras front and back, 4G radios, 5 inch slab screens, kickstands) that Samsung and HTC dress up their Android laden handsets to distract us from a poor OS and weak battery life (with no touchstone charge solutions for topping-off) is missing the point of the evolution of this market. These trinkets and bells and whistles are not the measure of a meaningful and lasting consumer/prosumer/enterprise handset.
WebOS is the heart that sets HPalm's smartphones and tablets apart from the rest of the market. No one can touch that. Microsoft's latest shell emulates it, RIM rips it off through QNX, Android is eons behind, but only HP has it.
We're on the cusp of a major shift in how smartphones can rock our world. We're on the dark horse, but reports of HP's smartphone's efforts demise are premature. It ain't over 'til it's over.
Thanks for that. Going on about 100 comments on this article so you can imagine how eager I was to hear about your life story in technology and your personal interpretation of the saga of Palm. The original article only had seven paragraphs.
It seems to me that comments are more of a discussion in and of themselves. If I were just to limit my comment to what was written in the article, there wouldn't be much to say. The more I read these comments, the more I realize that we PreCentral readers aren't united in any way except an interest in WebOS and its devices. I could have just ranted about "what, no Sprint?" and "where's the 4G?" and "I'm done, I'm gone to Android." comments that populate these pages so often, but I chose not to.
It amuses me how we band together to complain about slow releases, but when the products are released, we're individually not happy. I think that HP couldn't possibly look at us as a distinct unified market segment. We certainly don't act that way.
Well said. The smartphone market is huge and growing and WebOS remains the best platform both for multi-tasking (like how iOS says they can now do 2 things) and programming. If you have read Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, you can see how HP just needs to get it WebOS pushed past that point before it loses the chance.
Jay, is that you?
We aren't on the cusp of a major shift in how smartphones can rock our world. It's been happening for the past 3 years. WebOS isn't even remotely a player.
And he didn't even get to the part where you say that the smartphone race is a marathon, not a sprint - usually pointed out by people who are being left behind.
They're letting iOS, Android, and WP7 get themselves gassed running ahead of them in the market. Then, when those platforms are dragging 2-3 years down the road, HP will be shipping WebOS on 56 devices a millisecond, and developers will abandon those platforms en masse. Boom.
How do you guys not see this?
Based on how iOs and RIM and Windows8 have just modified their wares to riff off WebOS innovations, I think that WebOS is a player. iOS's sad attempts at multi-tasking, RIM's sliding cards, Windows8 opting for tiles for more finger real-estate, all these smack of the influence of WebOS on its competitors. If the other three felt they had nailed it in terms of design for the long-haul, we wouldn't see so much jockeying for features.
How do Windows 8 tiles look ANYTHING like any part of WebOS?
You forget that everything, even Windows 3.1, ripped off WebOS.
Reading test: opting for tiles "for more finger real-estate". Did not imply that the look of WIndows8 is a rip-off of WebOS. That's absurd.
But, now OS X Lion and Windows8 are going to have touch components to their interfaces on desktops and laptops. I remember when HP launched touch desktops and laptops and thought that was bizarre. Now everything's touch driven. Perhaps toasters, too?
Strange how Apotheker's announcement that WebOS will be on every HP PC by the end of the year resonated with announcements from Apple and Microsoft to follow with touch driven aspects to their next OS's.
Think before you type.
You first. "Opting for more finger real-estate" has NOTHING to do with WebOS. Microsoft's tablet plans have always been in reaction to Apple, not HP.
You think Apotheker's announcement spurred Microsoft to come up with a touch version of Windows with a completely redesigned and touch-optimized version of IE and new features like "Snap" in, what, FOUR MONTHS? Man, HP should poach some MS engineers if they're capable of executing wide-ranging changes so quickly. WebOS 3.0 would've been done on Feb. 10 with these guys.
As for the idea of Apple reacting to HP...LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Part of HP's issue I think is that didn't understand the fervent fanbase that webOS has (similar to Apple products). Its not like you see people getting all excited about their HP Pavilion g6t computer. I think they've treated webOS like they were just doing another update to a commodity HP product and have not adequately embraced the already established webOS community.
I doubt if they really care that much - webOS users must be like 1/10 of 1% of their revenue. A loyal fanbase may be bread-and-butter for an aging 80's hair band touring every summer but to a tech company it means very little. Especially if your loyal fanbase is very little.
And unless this attitude changes this is the reason I will not be buying any new WebOS devices.