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HP to Spin Off PC Business as Sales Stagnate

Savor said:
Sad news since webOS is actually my favorite mobile OS of them all. The card system was very intuitive with the touch gestures. Closing and switching to the next apps were fun to do unlike Apple's implementation which involves more steps like tapping the home button twice.
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Ah come on, the whole "card switching" thing was interesting 3 years now, it's not all that impressive today. The latest iOS gesture based app-switching is just as good if not better: single 4-finger swipe between the apps.. single swipe up to view the recently used apps. iOS 5 notification system puts it past WebOS.

If card switching is still the best thing that WebOS has going for itself - no great surprise it's just been put on its death bed.
 
I read the above as a BS attempt to get people to buy up whatever stock of WebOS devices have been mfg and paid for. No plan for the future, but committed? Staff reductions, but wants "focus on winning staff" Yeah, sounds like a wind down and sell off to me.
 
maflynn said:
You know what's really sad. Its the people that work at HP, who stuck by them when Palm was sold and now they're kicked to the curb
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Very true.

:(

On the plus side, Tech News Today reports that Josh Topolsky from This Is My Next has information that HP will likely explore licensing WebOS. Hear that Android OEM partners pissed about Motogoog? You have a decent escape exit now.
 
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At least Fiorina's merger lasted a long time and kept both HP and Compaq in business long enough to fund the switch to higher margin software and services. Both companies would probably be in even bigger hole without that merger. That is still a low-margin, but profitable business. It can be spun off or sold. It seems whatever they got from Palm is so bad, they are just shutting it down. Are they going to fire those who signed off on that billion dollar fiasco just 16 months ago?
 
hitekalex said:
You have got it exactly backwards. We live in a digital world. The tablets exists to eliminate the need for printers and paper. Information does not need to be converted into a bunch of dead trees.
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HP makes large A0 printers for CAD and so on, so I would say that printers is definitely a core competence they have.
 
I am watching some videos of the HP Touchpad and I just shake my head seeing how this wonderful OS can die so soon while an inferior OS like Android succeeds? Even the idea of "stacks" was very intuitive. Jon Rubinstein was brilliant and I hope Matias Duarte who is now with Google can really polish up Android with some of webOS' UI he helped created and not the lag we saw in Honeycomb.

Soldier Knows Best - HP Touchpad: webOS Tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPQBEG6E6gE

HP Veer featuring Manny Pacquiao (that smile is contagious at the end)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycv6ZGAMAf0

For anyone who likes a closed platform and want an iOS alternative, webOS really is the best one and for the current price. If you are not much of an app whore, a fire sale on webOS products could prove to be a bargain. Give it a chance. Only had my Pixi for a month and absolutely adore the OS even if it lacks the apps. You may not know how much fun it can be flicking the app up to close it instantly.

HP should have never bought Palm. They seem like two-faces who promised webOS users that they would be in it for the long haul and then giving up after a year.

I really hope another manufacturer buys webOS or Google had bought webOS instead of HP even though it would go against its open source ethos. For real tech heads who own these type of products, it really feels like a kick to the stomach. It was imminent knowing how competitive the mobile market is, but it still hurts watching webOS gone so soon like the Dreamcast did after a couple years in the market.

My next touchscreen gadget will likely now be from RIM just to see some elements of webOS continue to live on with QNX...
 
It's the same as this:

A failing restaurant business; gets bought off by new owner(s) expecting to turn it around. Still fails. 9/10 failing restaurants will continue to fail even with new owners.

WebOS was doomed from the beginning. HP buys them out but yet it still fails. Go figure.
 
Morod said:
Sad to see. HP was a fine company at one time....
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Indeed HP never recovered from Patricia Dunn, the Wicked Witch who against all advice purchased Compaq computers, and then compounded things by spinning off the instrument division (Agilent) which was HP's heart. Spied on HP's board members and generally ruined the corporate culture HP had up until that time. Bill Hewlett, and Dave Packard from where ever they might be must be mourning over what has happed to the company they founded.
 
Savor said:
I am watching some videos of the HP Touchpad and I just shake my head seeing how this wonderful OS can die so soon while an inferior OS like Android succeeds? Even the idea of "stacks" was very intuitive. Jon Rubinstein was brilliant and I hope Matias Duarte who is now with Google can really polish up Android with some of webOS' UI he helped created and not the lag we saw in Honeycomb.

Soldier Knows Best - HP Touchpad: webOS Tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPQBEG6E6gE

HP Veer featuring Manny Pacquiao (that smile is contagious at the end)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycv6ZGAMAf0

For anyone who likes a closed platform and want an iOS alternative, webOS really is the best one and for the current price. If you are not much of an app whore, a fire sale on webOS products could prove to be a bargain. Give it a chance. Only had my Pixi for a month and absolutely adore the OS even if it lacks the apps. You may not know how much fun it can be flicking the app up to close it instantly.

HP should have never bought Palm. They seem like two-faces who promised webOS users that they would be in it for the long haul and then giving up after a year.

I really hope another manufacturer buys webOS or Google had bought webOS instead of HP even though it would go against its open source ethos. For real tech heads who own these type of products, it really feels like a kick to the stomach. It was imminent knowing how competitive the mobile market is, but it still hurts watching webOS gone so soon like the Dreamcast did after a couple years in the market.

My next touchscreen gadget will likely now be from RIM just to see some elements of webOS continue live on with QNX...
Click to expand...

Give it a rest. 100% of these companies don't succeed because they don't understand what people want in a device. Anybody who buys an HP webOS tablet right now even after this announcement is a frickin' idiot. Why would you buy a device that isn't going to be supported ever? No updates, not a thing available.

It's not even worth a single penny.
 
There is no third place in this fierce market, bye WebOS. Android is likely to stay around, let's see how long Winblows 7 mobile lasts.
 
Quit with the whole 'Android is inferior' crap. It isn't. It needs time and polish. (and apps)
 
shartypants said:
There is no third place in this fierce market, bye WebOS. Android is likely to stay around, let's see how long Winblows 7 mobile lasts.
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Android is still around because just like there are steak houses, fancy grilles, there's also a few 10,000+ mcdonalds, bk, jack in the boxes.

Fast food for poor people and gourmet for the smart. pompous? That's the way the world turns. Android = fast food (found in any bargain bin, corner store, cheap eats). Apple = expensive and classy.

Microsoft Wp7? WTF is that? The only thing they can do is keep throwing money at it; they have enough cash to do so.

edit:Having used a wp7 device lately, I must say the UI is just as smooth as iOS. Android? Nope, stuttering pos.
 
From the New York Times:

"Earlier this year, Mr. Apotheker outlined a plan to grow H.P.’s tiny business software unit and expand into the cloud. That strategy challenges I.B.M and Oracle, two giants in the market. " (Emphasis added.)

As someone who worked for HP for a microsecond in the 90s, what about HP gives anyone confidence that they can enter an already highly competitive space while competing with two of the companies that effectively invented it? All while starting from a "tiny" unit?
 
I don't believe that we're looking at seeing the end of HP machines, I think it's similar to what happened with IBM's line of computers, Lenovo has taken the reigns and continue to produce quality products.

We may continue to see their products however perhaps without the HP logo.
 
iPadThai said:
Android is still around because just like there are steak houses, fancy grilles, there's also a few 10,000+ mcdonalds, bk, jack in the boxes.

Fast food for poor people and gourmet for the smart. pompous? That's the way the world turns. Android = fast food (found in any bargain bin, corner store, cheap eats). Apple = expensive and classy.

Microsoft Wp7? WTF is that? The only thing they can do is keep throwing money at it; they have enough cash to do so.

edit:Having used a wp7 device lately, I must say the UI is just as smooth as iOS. Android? Nope, stuttering pos.
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you make Apple enthusiasts look bad.
 
Woah, this is bad (for HP)... Basically this all means their business is going down the tubes and they don't know what the hell to do. Shuffling the high-level organization of a company is just a way for the executive management to look like they are doing something.
 
Hyper-X said:
I don't believe that we're looking at seeing the end of HP machines, I think it's similar to what happened with IBM's line of computers, Lenovo has taken the reigns and continue to produce quality products.

We may continue to see their products however perhaps without the HP logo.
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HP was LEGENDARY. But it's run by a bunch of non-innovative business folk. History speaks for HP's success and failures.

I just hope Apple after SJ won't turn into HP. When you let idiots run a company, they will run it to the ground.

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aohus said:
you make Apple enthusiasts look bad.
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how so? It is what it is, my son.
 
okay....so with the updated article HP continues making computers but not Tablets or Smartphone and discontinue any other hardware that runs on WebOs? A lot going on in this thread...
 
transmaster said:
Indeed HP never recovered from Lew Platt.
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There. Fixed it for you. ;)

Lew was afraid of his own shadow. A fine steward of a company in a stable market--unfortunately, the market HP found itself in was about as far from stable as anything could be.
 
You know, HP ditching WebOS hardware is probably one of the hardest blows an early adopter had to face in a good while.

I haven't bought a tablet yet. Though of course, the iPad is at the top of my list.

This is one thing that gives Apple an exceptional reputation for early adoption of a product. They won't abandon you. And their update cycles are fairly predictable.

R.I.P TouchPad.
 
Hyper-X said:
I don't believe that we're looking at seeing the end of HP machines, I think it's similar to what happened with IBM's line of computers, Lenovo has taken the reigns and continue to produce quality products.

We may continue to see their products however perhaps without the HP logo.
Click to expand...

HP should name the spin-off Compaq and also spin-off Palm to undo the harm done.
 
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