Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Jon Rubinstein Compares Lukewarm TouchPad Reception to Original Mac OS X

By the way, slightly off-topic, but my experience with the Mac dates to the introduction of OS X. I heard what Apple was planning to do with OS X and switched immediately even though my first Powerbook was running OS 9 at the time. I knew OS X was what I wanted. So while some existing users were scared by the change, this was what brought me (and others) to the platform.
 
Popeye206 said:
There is no market need for WebOS. iOS and Android have filled the void.

So to win, HP will have to do something like the iPod did for Apple and their not going to do it by making a "me too" tablet that has more disadvantages than advantages.

HP would be better off creating something no one else has. But as Apple has shown us again and again... it's not easy to be first.
Click to expand...

Ruby already had his chance with Palm. Nothing happened. We've seen WebOS, it's already made its impression, and it's done. Consumers weren't interested then, despite heavy promotion of the the Pre, so why should they care now when it's shoved into a subpar tablet?

Ruby's asking HP employees to understand. They probably will, because HP makes other products. Consumers, however, don't buy products out of kindness and belief in future potential. Especially not in this market.
 
*LTD* said:
Ruby already had his chance with Palm. Nothing happened. We've seen WebOS, it's already made its impression, and it's done. Consumers weren't interested then, despite heavy promotion of the the Pre, so why should they care now when it's shoved into a subpar tablet?

Ruby's asking HP employees to understand. They probably will, because HP makes other products. Consumers, however, don't buy products out of kindness and belief in future potential. Especially not in this market.
Click to expand...

HP should focus on the ultra portable market (like the MBA) and making more innovations in printing tech. That is more up their alley.

Last thing consumers want to buy into is another mobile OS. Heck, Android based devices are having enough problems. You can toss the Playbook into the same category as HP.... but at least BB has some loyal customers still. I think? :p
 
There is a serious issue with what he is saying and a gaping void in his analogy.



His comparison was to 10.1 the original OSX.

The failing and criticism of the HP touchpad is based on WebOS 3. The 3rd generation of that operating system.


The third incarnation of WebOS and it is still failing to live up-to it's potential (and yes I am a Pre 2 owner), however by the time OSX was in it's 3rd incarnation it had improved immeasurably from it's original form. So his analogy is flawed.
 
Microsoft Windows 1.0

MS Windows 1.0 was pretty crappy too, but look what it evolved into! Oh wait - never mind.
 
Popeye206 said:
There is no market need for WebOS. iOS and Android have filled the void.

So to win, HP will have to do something like the iPod did for Apple and their not going to do it by making a "me too" tablet that has more disadvantages than advantages.

HP would be better off creating something no one else has. But as Apple has shown us again and again... it's not easy to be first.
Click to expand...

I don't agree with you honestly. I think HP is targetting a more professional market than apple, and it's a market which is *not* saturated (and the playbook has been a complete flop, so their only credible threat there is floundering). HP has the clout to make it there, they certainly have the influence with CIOs and such (if you're on the internet, chances are at some point your data is transiting HP switches and being processed on HP servers). The OS *is* pretty slick, it just has some bugs which I expect to see ironed out soon.

I don't think HP's about to threaten the iPad/iPhone ecosystem, but they may be about to shank RIM.
 
OS X was great since day one. That's why I bought my first Mac with OS 9, because Unix-based OS X was coming, otherwise I would have never got one.
 
rubinstein_headshot.jpg


"Trust me. The glitches will be worked out and we'll sell tens of millions. Haven't I told you this before?"

Signed,

The NeXT Steve Jobs

P.S. That Palm snafu was all part of the master plan.
 
lozpop said:
What a manager wouldn't say to exalt his employees, but comparing webOS to Mac OS X is .... is ....
Click to expand...

It quite right! Then OS X 10.0 came out, it was dog slow. Pretty, functional, but dog slow. And there were no applications for it.

The Web OS Tablet is.. wait for it... dog slow. Pretty, functional, but dog slow. And there are no appliucations for it.

The only real difference between the two is one uses the past tense (were) while the other uses present tense (are).

As an ex-Apple guy, he would know.
 
Winni said:
Then why are you still using Mac OS X and iOS? OS X is not known for its blazing performance - that crown goes to Linux, followed by Windows. And iOS... Please. Have you seen Android lately?
Click to expand...

Your statements have absolutely no basis in reality. As usual.
 
Winni said:
Then why are you still using Mac OS X and iOS? OS X is not known for its blazing performance - that crown goes to Linux, followed by Windows. And iOS... Please. Have you seen Android lately?
Click to expand...

Huh?


*LTD* said:
Ruby already had his chance with Palm. Nothing happened. We've seen WebOS, it's already made its impression, and it's done. Consumers weren't interested then, despite heavy promotion of the the Pre, so why should they care now when it's shoved into a subpar tablet?

Ruby's asking HP employees to understand. They probably will, because HP makes other products. Consumers, however, don't buy products out of kindness and belief in future potential. Especially not in this market.
Click to expand...

The problem with WebOS is ecosystem, not the OS itself. Maybe HP will provide one.
 
What a joke. Apple was a small player when OS X was introduced.

HP is the largest PC maker (for now). Huge differences in terms of resource availability.
 
Yes, he has a point. His point is that his product is currently as good/sluggish as MacOSX years ago.

So, why is that a good thing?

Usually when a product is released it is up-to-par or better than other devices on the market.....not comparing themselves to years ago software.
 
Rubinstein forgets one small detail: he is not Steve Jobs.


He is bad even when trying to copy what apple/Jobs have done ith the iPad. Go figure.
 
The trouble is that unlike with the initial rollout of Mac OS X, the competition for HP is not going to stay static. Apple had nothing to lose with the lameness of Windows ME/2000/NT at the time. But Apple is going to innovate and have a vibrant Developer community no matter what HP does. The only way to win is to go above and beyond Apple. Make it a controlled app store like Apple, but a little more open. Make Developer licenses all free, but with the same great tools like XCode and the Developer portal. Make new features for the OS that Apple had not even thought of. Court business more than Apple, etc.

Apple has spent more than two decades building the ecosystem behind all of this. So the above is a REALLY tall order. I don't see it happening.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
It quite right! Then OS X 10.0 came out, it was dog slow. Pretty, functional, but dog slow. And there were no applications for it.

The Web OS Tablet is.. wait for it... dog slow. Pretty, functional, but dog slow. And there are no appliucations for it.

The only real difference between the two is one uses the past tense (were) while the other uses present tense (are).

As an ex-Apple guy, he would know.
Click to expand...

Also, Mac os x was a new innovation at the time. HP bad tablet is a bad copy of the iPad.
 
GFLPraxis said:
I actually agree with him. WebOS' reviews seem very similar to the original OS X rollout- everyone reviewing OS X said, "Tons of potentials, some minor hiccups that need to be ironed out". Arstechnica recently did a review of their OS X 10.0 review that was interesting. WebOS seems to have, at least IMO, the most potential of any iOS competitor. It's being well handled and not fragmenting like Android, it doesn't seem as rushed, haphazard, and developer-unfriendly as the Blackberry Playbook, and it's not as "heavy" as Windows 8.
Click to expand...

Okay, but June 2011 (HP Touchpad with webOS released 6/19/11 for preorders and 7/1/11 for sale) isn't the first iteration of WebOS. Palm webOS was introduced in January 2009 as the successor to Palm OS. While webOS had to be optimized for a tablet and has had a few new features added, it's not technically the OS first release, so wouldn't you need to find me a Arstechnia review of OS X 2 1/2 years after the release of the original OS X and what were the reviews saying of OS X then?
/
/
/
 
Jon's wrong

I enjoyed seeing him working back with all my fellow NeXT colleagues but he's wrong assessing the popularity of the TouchPad to OS X.

The TouchPad is akin to a failed NeXTStation minus the technical prowess that was the NeXTStation relative to it's competition back in the day.

Jon never has been a visionary. He's a great engineer who knows how to execute the vision of others. He's also no salesman. It's not in his personality.

His need to try and be the next Steve is him overshooting his talents.
 
theheadguy said:
Wow, the comments above are quite malicious. But, what else is there to be expected from born-again fanboys here on MR these days? Although this guy led the development the now worshiped iPod, his observations are obviously worthless since he doesn't currently work at Apple. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Sounds like trolling to me.

As another poster pointed out in response to this post, the comments have been largely positive. I think this is probably the most negative post.

Someone else also mentioned the difference of a pre-established user base, which is the biggest difference in my mind for the comparison of Web OS to OS X.
There were millions of Mac users motivated (and forced) to go to the new OS. For WebOS, folks will just have to want to and/or be compelled to. And OS X only competed with one other eastablished operating system (realistically). WebOS is competing with at least two, three if you count Windows Phone 7.

But I am all for competition, so I wish them the best! The better they do the better things get for all of us.
 
Haven't tried anything HP lately, so I went to their website. You have to give them credit for their sense of humour...

"Get productive, or at least fake it really well with a brilliantly large screen, and the ability to multitask like a champion of multitasking."
 
Sorry no excuses this time around my friend .... Your not the first tablet on the block.

#1 you have Apple to contend with that's on its 5th or more major rev of its software.

#2 You have Microsoft showing off what a Tablet really should be .... a portable desktop.

JR you can't be late to the party and have excuses..... RIMM is experiencing this now.
 
theheadguy said:
Wow, the comments above are quite malicious. Although this guy led the development the now worshiped iPod, his observations are obviously worthless since he doesn't currently work at Apple. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I have never owned an iPod.

But did't "this guy" leech off Apple's iTunes to make his new Palm product work? Grant it, he may have been the brains behind iTunes. I don't know, but if he were, why not just create a Palm version? Or might that take too long to do as well as develop a client side of it?

Leeching off of Apple for leeching's sake gets you no friends here at MacRumors and I'd be the first in line with my comments and "EEK!" emoticon :eek:! :D
:apple:
:apple:
:apple:
 
neko girl said:
When Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced that his company’s chips would be making their way to smartphones, he called the transition “a marathon, not a sprint.” (http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/intel-smartphone-push-postponed-again/)

"Again, like the tablet market, Microsoft says this is not a sprint but a marathon." (http://windows7reports.com/2010/12/27/wp-7-sales-1-5-million-smartphones-shipped-in-6-weeks/)

Interesting that both Intel's and Microsoft's quotes have been tantamount to failure so far in mobile.
Click to expand...

Seems to be a "sprint" now as Microsoft will be rushing Windows 8 to market to compete with iPad3. LOL!!

Microsoft Will Rush Windows 8 To Market To Compete With iPad 3
http://www.cultofmac.com/microsoft-will-rush-windows-8-to-market-to-compete-with-the-ipad-3/102557
 
citi said:
Let me help you:

The BIG TWO did not start out as the big two. Why would anyone think HP couldn't?
Click to expand...

Is it fair to say (in all seriousness) that the big two weren't competing with anything to become what they are?

I guess that's not quite right. There was BlackBerry and Windows Mobile (5 and 6), but in essence, iOS and Android created the touchscreen multimedia Internet device (which also happens to be a phone) market. It's a lot easier to become a giant in an industry when you have no competition.

One could even argue that Apple created the market for the multimedia Internet phone, then Google took advantage of the fact that the market was only available for one cell carrier and created their version for everyone else.

It all doesn't quite work out that simply, but that seems the general gist of things.
But WebOS has some serious competition with very established user bases. Not an easy task.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back