Funny, since I called the death of the Touchpad a couple of weeks before it happened on this very forum. Playbook will be in the discount bin for under 200 within 6 months as RIM abandones it completely to focus strictly on bringing their phones back into popularity... But will also fail there until the co-CEO knuckleheads running RIM are fired.
Funny, since I called the death of the Touchpad a couple of weeks before it happened on this very forum. Playbook will be in the discount bin for under 200 within 6 months as RIM abandones it completely to focus strictly on bringing their phones back into popularity... But will also fail there until the co-CEO knuckleheads running RIM are fired.
I bought both a Pre and later a Pre 2 just to experience Web OS. It has some positives, but the lack of official Apps is an absolute killer, especially a lack of regionally tailored Apps.
The fact that the majority of users seem to have to root the device and install PreWare in order to increase the amount of available Apps is NOT a good thing, it's a pain in the hole.
As much as I like my Pre 2 it could never be my full-time smart phone simply because of the lack of official support, and I do not see Web OS 3 on the touchpad changing that.
The Pre 2/ 3 and HP Veer do / will not sell well outside of the USA, much like how the Pre 2 had no real carrier support in Europe.
This means there is no extra oomph for marketing, to drive sales globally and very little incentive for developers to go to any trouble supporting it, leaving it's App store like the barren whore once again.
Whilst the blackberry playbook may struggle to find any sizeable marketshare, the HP Touch, Veer and Pre 3 will be nibbling on an even smaller Market.
I'm not saying Web OS isn't a good OS, but it just fails to live up to it's potential all the time IMHO. Slapping it inside hardware that despite the OP's assertion that hey size doesn't matter, is overly bulky compared to it's competitors and imho plastic cheap looking does not help it's cause.
Likewise the Pre 2 and Veer are the cooky cousins of phone design. In a world where anything over 8-9mm thick is seen as superflouous, the fact that these chunky egg like devices will never truly take the 'mass' Market by storm. They are original, they are cooky, they do feel nice in the hand, but they are NOT importantly seen as cool, elegant or aspirational products.
In a world where your priced the same as the leading competitors, being a bit chubby and wearing an OS that hangs like a pretty but badly fitted dress (it has a lack of support in all the key areas) is not a real viable Market winner.
I had hopes that HP could turn WebOS around, but it's merely making the same mistakes Palm made - albeit with a bigger backing of cash but without correcting where Palm went wrong.
Sadly by the time get it right with Web OS and have hardware people care about, it will be too late. The Market is pretty much sewn up and given another 12 months any gap in the Market will be reduced in size even more so.
A promising OS wasted. Commercially unattractive and lacking developer support and specifically lacking 'global carriers' to subsidise cost of it's handsets - WebOS is dead in the water before it was ever given the chance to truly swim. HP's involvement is disappointing and lacks any real gumption to save this drowning ship unfortunately.
The lack of 3rd party dev support (excluding PreWare homebrew) is what will kill the touchpad.
I have owned both the Pre and Pre 2 (alongside an iphone) and its clear that despite the promise of a great operating system - it means nothing without decent App support (GLOBALLY).
HP & Palm failed to entice European operators to back the Pre in any great form and its clear on its localized App store the amount of choice is utterly pitiful.
I see no further strides to improve this with the Touchpad, and with Veer and the forthcoming Pre 3 not making any impression or looking like they will with European carriers there is little hope that a tidal wave of quality apps will hit WebOS.3 guaranteeing that it will NEVER rise to its potential. In fact I see little evidence that HP's involvement has improved webOS's chances of success or survival.
After spending 800 on the two Pre device (handsets) and witnessing the woeful support and lack-lustre app store for way too long, I will not be investing ANY thing more into WebOS as reviews have done nothing to inspire me that this great vacuum on which a device sinks or swims has been plugged.
A nice OS hampered entirely by half hearted hardware design and piss poor app support and no real carrier momentum to drive the device into consumers hands.
Remember how the technically worse VHS won the format war over Betamax By having the largest collection of films.
Same goes for many things I'm afraid, being the best does not mean winning.
Basically, whichever device/format/OS etc, becomes ubiquitous first, is the one that 'wins'. You're right, it's not always the best that's victorious.Remember how the technically worse VHS won the format war over Betamax By having the largest collection of films.
Same goes for many things I'm afraid, being the best does not mean winning.
Only issue with this statement is that RIM's phone Market is shrinking steadily every quarter. HP had the largest Market share of the computer industry. If anything the situation is completely opposite to your example.I don't go around over dramatizing every other tablet that receives a very modest price reduction, and fail to take into account that Rim still have a viable phone Market and that's why it is not in the same situation as Palm Pre and Touchpad.
As a Pre and a Pre 2 owner I predicted it much earlier![]()
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=12900147#post12900147
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12900713/
July 8th
I don't go around over dramatizing every other tablet that receives a very modest price reduction, and fail to take into account that Rim still have a viable phone Market and that's why it is not in the same situation as Palm Pre and Touchpad.
Don't think it's overstating anything. This is a precursor to the eventual end of the Playbook. I give RIM 6 months to dump it, much like it is doing with it's employees.
RIM is a Dead Company Walking. And you know what the scary part is? It looks as if they don't really give a ****.
http://www.wincom7.com/blog/rim-announces-three-new-blackberry-curves-neowin-net/
Look I have a iPad and Playbook and alot of other Apple products, the Playbook software is much better then the iPad and the multitasking is way better. Spend a day or so with the Paybook and if you dont keep your comments to your self untill you give it a try ?
Oh dear psychic overlord of all things tech, we bow down.Funny, since I called the death of the Touchpad a couple of weeks before it happened on this very forum. Playbook will be in the discount bin for under 200 within 6 months as RIM abandones it completely to focus strictly on bringing their phones back into popularity... But will also fail there until the co-CEO knuckleheads running RIM are fired.
Oh dear psychic overlord of all things tech, we bow down.
It's a $50 discount, chill your guns. Geez. Definitely an overstatement.
The Playbook will survive as RIM is committed to its QNX OS for it's next generation phones.
As far as it ever being successful, it joins all other tablets collecting dust on store shelfs.
I spent more than a few days with the Playbook and felt like I wanted to throw it against a wall. It has nothing on the iPad. In addition, the person that approved the power button for the Playbook should be fired.
One alarming factor: RIM just announced shipping 200,000 units in their last quarter (June - August). There's vast speculation about Apple's results in their current quarter, (which spans July - September). They may end up shipping as many as 20,000,000 iPads. A 100:1 ratio of sales must have a negative impact on the image of RIM.
It would seem that RIM's abysmal PB performance could be viewed as a negative marketing factor for their phones that are rolling out. That might encourage them to pull the product.
RIM's software update will allow them to run Android apps; that update should be available soon (if it's not already available). I don't see that change causing any significant improvement in sales.
I think I agree with this. The HP situation was a one-of-a-kind thing where the company had already decided on a major change of course. The user @KnightWRX noted that HP's TouchPad almost seemed to be de-tuned on release; we had a brief discussion about that here.
It just kills me that they released this as a business tablet but it doesn't even support emails or have a calendar. What a joke.
Its even more of a joke that these competitors in the market think they can charge as much as the iPad. The only company doing it right as far as competing with Apple is going to be Amazon.