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The death of WebOS
- Thread starter radiogoober
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I sometimes wish Apple would have bought Palm.
I know what you mean because I'd love to have WebOS multitasking and notifications on iOS devices, but if Apple would buy Palm then there essentially would be no more tablet market because Apple would have even more arsenal to sue the pants off the industry.
This is really disappointing. I have been wanting to get a webOS device (such as the upcoming Pre 3) but thinking I will just stick with Apple products. I absolutely love webOS, but Apple wins in every other area. A shame HP isn't really doing something with it.
to the victor go the spoils...
Yes, the Touchpad is showing dismal sales, but why should Palm/HP be reaping any rewards with their tablet? And why exactly should Android be doing well?
People seem to forget, all the pundits from January 2010 though mid-2010 who said that Apple blew it, the iPad was a bucket of fail, and Apple was stupid and people weren't gonna buy it. A rare misstep, they all predicted!
History bore this all out, and Apple absolutely knocked it out of the park.
Apple took all the risk as a "first-mover" making a device like the iPad and they deserve the great success they are enjoying. What they have done took giant balls and a boatload of brilliance to make happen, and to the victor go the spoils. Like it or not, these other manufacturers are indeed "copycats" if for no other reason that they followed lock-step with Apple's bold concept, a concept 1.5 years later that we all take for granted.
For this reason alone, no one should expect any great success from any of these "me, toos", let alone for the fact that their collective execution thus far has been poor by any standard.
Yes, the Touchpad is showing dismal sales, but why should Palm/HP be reaping any rewards with their tablet? And why exactly should Android be doing well?
People seem to forget, all the pundits from January 2010 though mid-2010 who said that Apple blew it, the iPad was a bucket of fail, and Apple was stupid and people weren't gonna buy it. A rare misstep, they all predicted!
History bore this all out, and Apple absolutely knocked it out of the park.
Apple took all the risk as a "first-mover" making a device like the iPad and they deserve the great success they are enjoying. What they have done took giant balls and a boatload of brilliance to make happen, and to the victor go the spoils. Like it or not, these other manufacturers are indeed "copycats" if for no other reason that they followed lock-step with Apple's bold concept, a concept 1.5 years later that we all take for granted.
For this reason alone, no one should expect any great success from any of these "me, toos", let alone for the fact that their collective execution thus far has been poor by any standard.
The only way for TouchPad to compete with iPad is pricing, HP did not drop the pricing, thus fail at sales.
webOS is a great OS, but cannot get traction because it's not given enough love from HP. HP Palm stuck in '90s with their business model, Apple is adapting way quicker to the market.
webOS is a great OS, but cannot get traction because it's not given enough love from HP. HP Palm stuck in '90s with their business model, Apple is adapting way quicker to the market.
Well, let's not go all gushy. After all, Apple wasn't the first manufacturer to produce a consumer tablet. Microsoft did it a decade ago. And Lenovo has been producing products with a touch interface for years.
On the other hand, I think you're essentially correct in one crucial respect. What the pundits misunderstood was that Apple didn't target owners of personal computers for the iPad. They targeted the folks who own iPhones and iPods. A market that didn't even exist when Microsoft tried to sell the first consumer tablets. And a market much larger than laptop purchasers.
For those consumers the halo effect of the Apple brand is tremendously powerful. And it's a market segment that manufacturers who focus primarily on PC users and/or business cell phone users don't really understand. Neither, by the way, did the "pundits" from the personal computer press.
How many prospective tablet customers have even heard of "Palm?" Or for that matter, how many can tell you what the initials HP stand for? And I'd bet that only a miniscule proportion even know what a "WebOS" is.
Apple's "brilliance" lay in part in producing a very attractive product. But an even greater degree of "brilliance" lay in understanding the market they were trying to tap and reaching out to a whole consumer segment who don't want or need to carry around a personal computer even in the house.
There is a lot of discussion on boards like this about whether the iPad can be a laptop replacement. But that only demonstrates the bias of a small segment of the tablet market segment, a segment that has been tremendously expanded by Apple. Traditional PC makers and phone manufacturers that have aimed at a traditional smartphone segment (e.g crackberry addicts) are at a tremendous disadvantage in the tablet marketplace.
Pray that the above statement does not indeed become reality, it is innovation in the rival devices that keep Apple innovating.
I am just reading this thread and need to state how idiotic this post was. It completely contradicts itself!
You say that WebOS is in it's first generation and compared it to iOS 1.0 stating that the iPhone was Apples first generation. HOWEVER, then you go on to state how WebOS is now onto it's 3rd generation. So which is it? Clearly WebOS is NOT on it's first generation, it is on it's 3rd. If you want to compare apples to apples, then you have to compare the original Palm Pre's to the iPhone and the iPad to the WebOS tablet. In the end, both companies started on the phones and moved to tablets. This is NOT the first generation of WebOS.
Seriously, what kind of disjointed logic did you use to write this post?
Anyway, my thoughts: WebOS looks nice, and really could be a competitor to iOS and Android Tablets, if they can convince developers to get on board. Without Apps, then it is like any other failed OS. John Q Public could care less about how fast a device is, as long as he can play Angry Birds and check his Facebook.
Wait a few more hours and see what HP says during their quarterly earnings conference call when they talk about their upcoming plans. Obviously they are not going to outline in detail any upcoming products but I do believe HP has serious plans for webOS that go beyond crappy Palm phones and a poorly launched Touchpad.
The current webOS products on the market are just there so that webOS can exist on the market. HP is designing much better products to release in the future and I would not be at all surprised to see them bridge webOS across all their devices in a few years in the same fashion that apple is bridging OSX and iOS into one product over the next few years.
webOS as it exists today is pretty much dead, sure. But I think HP has plans that will bring it much more into the mainstream by taking over the enterprise industry with webOS phones, tablets, computers, servers and more.
EDIT: Looks like I was very wrong.. too bad.
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Total nonsense, rival devices pose no threat to Apple as shown by sales; this doesn't explain why Apple had an incentive to innovate and make the iPad in the first place; it also ignores the fact that 'making money' is a reason for Apple to improve their products. Do you think that if there were no rival products Apple would just reach market saturation with iPad 1 and then never make another iteration? Getting people to buy improved products is an incentive for Apple to innovate. Competitors have done nothing that would concern Apple. They might in the future, but it is not necessary nor sufficient for Apple to improve their products. This is just a way of crediting the losers for the winner's success.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/18/hp-will-discontinue-operations-for-webos-devices/
And that's that for the Touchpad.
A shame really, much too soon.
And that's that for the Touchpad.
A shame really, much too soon.
From HP's press release:
"HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward"
So they'll be looking for a buyer I presume. Will Samsung, HTC or LG/SE, etc give WebOS a try?
"HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward"
So they'll be looking for a buyer I presume. Will Samsung, HTC or LG/SE, etc give WebOS a try?
Uh, WebOS is what their going to focus on. "software and services" didn't scream that to you?
I work at best buy, the touchpad has just been sitting there, but the OS itself is very impressive.
That would have made great claim chowder for Daring Fireball as HP just completely killed WebOS, which is a real shame as it is so much better than Android.
Uh, WebOS is what their going to focus on. "software and services" didn't scream that to you?
I work at best buy, the touchpad has just been sitting there, but the OS itself is very impressive.
They just bought an enterprise software company for like 12 billion, that is where they are going to focus on, not WebOS. HP already has a large consulting firm and that is what they are focusing on.
WOW - I didn't see that coming. I think they need to fire the CEO, at this point. He dropped a billion dollars for palm, and he's looking to cast off pcs.
So this Twitter from Richard Kerris, a HP VP, confirms it. HP will look for a hardware maker to take over WebOS or license it.
https://twitter.com/richardkerris
https://twitter.com/richardkerris
Yeah, I suppose I'm eating those words now... too bad really, I love webOS but it is done. I would be absolutely stunned if any hardware makers are willing to build anything using it now that it has twice proven to provide horrible sales... Well now I'm very happy I stuck with my iPhone, iPad and Macbook. Apple is officially the only tech company I have any interest in anymore.
Doubt that it's quite that bleak. Consumers buy tablets and phones, not operating systems. In view of Google's purchase of Motorola Mobile other hardware manufacturers with a better understanding of consumer tastes may be interested in licensing webOS to provide something different from the army of Android clones.
On the other hand, of course, this isn't exactly the economic climate in which risk taking is highly recommended, especially in a consumer marketplace that is so heavily dominated by a single player.
Woooow I thought this was a joke but apparently it's true.
BTW I feel pity for both HP and TP owners
BTW I feel pity for both HP and TP owners
Hahaha!
I was just coming back to GLOAT!!!!
http://gizmodo.com/5832332/goodbye-webos-the-greatest-phone-youll-never-use
I wonder if webOS will ever end up on anything else. For now, OFFICIALLY webOS is DEAD!
Wow. The touchpad must have been a complete monumental horrible piece of crap failure for HP to cease all phones and tablets. WOW. Funny stuff, anyone saying this was a viable competitor. Not even the company that makes it believes it was!
Sorry if I'm gloating too much, but that's some funny stuff!
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Yikes. Gizmodo made a good point:
Gizmodo said:
That truly sucks for anyone who bought one of these. The few webOS fanboys on this message board always said "oh it has such potential. I know they'll update the software and fix the problems!!!111!". Dang. They won't. You'll never have another software update. And the app store you put your faith in? You'll never see a new app. Touchpad/webOS is dead in the water. Dead on arrival.