"I would take one of them over an Android tablet though...."
So... what is wrong with the TouchPad? Why aren't people buying them?
Therein lies the problem. You've answered your own question. People aren't buying them because people dont want to pay for them. Look at the first quote, where you read someone saying "They would take one over an Android". Tablets are not gifts, they are not awarded prizes.. they luxury devices requiring payment first. Noone is giving or taking anything here, you have to purchase it first.
In other words its easy to woulda, coulda, shoulda. Its another to thing to look at what you will actually spend your hard earned money on. If someone walks into a store looking to spend their money on a tablet. There are very few reasons to purchase a $400 HP Touchpad/Transformer or $500 Xoom/Tab.. over a $500 iPad2. Very few reasons.
As someone has said. There is no market for tablets. There is a market for the iPad.
BestBuy has approximately 1200 retail outlets (plus websites) to sell equipment through. That's roughly 200 units per storefront, which sounds extremely high.
I don't know about that.
Apple sold nearly 10 million iPads in the previous quarter which comes out to nearly, but not quite, 250k units sold per week.
Best Buy didn't order too many of them. They just aren't selling.
BestBuy has approximately 1200 retail outlets (plus websites) to sell equipment through. That's roughly 200 units per storefront, which sounds extremely high.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Yes, it was Best Buy's mistake to order so many.
However, BB does have a legitimate complaint against HP. They were promised a good quality product. To the extent that the TouchPad failed to live up to the marketing hype, HP does have some liability. Beyond liability, of course, is the matter of credibility. Even if HP didn't overhype the product, BB sells a lot of HP products and it may not be in HP's best interests to force the issue on a POS product that no one wants.
If say roughly 250,000 units can't be sold by Best Buy nationwide and through online channels, something is very wrong with the product. Even if zero sales were made online, an average of 200 units of a brand-new tablet per store for a one month period is a very simple target.
Even if Apple sells 1 million iPads a month in the US alone, that's over 32,000 units PER DAY.
I still don't know why people think WebOS under HP really has any future at all. It's just rubbish, and will take another six months to be anywhere close to the iPad.
Maybe HP can turn things around, but this is really worse than anyone thought. The anti-Apple sentiment, geek fantasies and blogs desperate for clicks and anything non-iPad are proven once again to be not even in the same universe as our current reality.
I think the main thing wrong w/the TouchPad in most people's eyes is it lacks an Apple logo and is not called the Ipad.
It's sad how often those who do not understand product categories, markets and relative value of competing products fall back to such ridiculous statements like this. Honestly, do you think Apple would put their logo on the product known as the HP TouchPad? Really? How does the build quality stack up to an actual Apple product? How about the OS? If you're breaking new ground with a completely different type of product, you can put something out that's sort of half baked and get away with it because everyone understand there was a lot of innovation going into your accomplishment. If you're entering an established market with just another "me too" product and you're trying to compete with a very polished product with a very large and established ecosystem... what do you expect? This product was DOA for very obvious reasons.
Also, if you're going to distinguish your product in some way, it should be for a feature that actually works. Flash on mobile is a big joke and it only serves to lower the end user experience. It didn't help all of the Android tablets, it didn't help RIM and it's not going to help HP.
It's sad how often those who do not understand product categories, markets and relative value of competing products fall back to such ridiculous statements like this. Honestly, do you think Apple would put their logo on the product known as the HP TouchPad? Really? How does the build quality stack up to an actual Apple product? How about the OS? If you're breaking new ground with a completely different type of product, you can put something out that's sort of half baked and get away with it because everyone understand there was a lot of innovation going into your accomplishment. If you're entering an established market with just another "me too" product and you're trying to compete with a very polished product with a very large and established ecosystem... what do you expect? This product was DOA for very obvious reasons.
Also, if you're going to distinguish your product in some way, it should be for a feature that actually works. Flash on mobile is a big joke and it only serves to lower the end user experience. It didn't help all of the Android tablets, it didn't help RIM and it's not going to help HP.
Uhm I'm not falling back to anything. It's a simple fact, the Touchpad is not as high quality an item as the iPad, it doesn't have the number of apps, etc. For the general buying public tho (read:not geeks like us), it boils down simply to the fact that it is not an iPad, so they don't want it. That was the angle I was approaching from.
An iPad makes sense as it is the best tablet available and I can understand buying Android tablets if you already have an Android phone (as many people do). But a WebOS tablet?
My cousin was able to get a 16 gigabyte Touchpad for $299 out the door a few weeks back (during Tennessee's no sales tax weekend). Staples had a $100 coupon on the touchpad for a few days right before HP cut the price $100. He has a Palm Pre phone so it worked out well for him. I personally would have recommended an iPad but for $299 and having a pre phone I couldn't fault him. Seemed like a real good deal to me.
What HP and other tablet makers don't get is that people want not just an iPad, but the experience and the ability to say "I have an iPad".
Someone I know was boasting how he decided against the iPad because it didn't have a USB port. I asked, how often are you going to use an USB port on your tablet? His answer ... well, I don't know, but if I need it, it's there.
This is the flaw in HP and others thinking. Apple is great at designing and delivering a product that the customer doesn't know they want. Apple competitors design and deliver products based on what they (the company) think customers need.
Suck it up, Best Buy! If you're stupid enough to stock that many Touch Pads then you should pay the piper.
Be patient... soon HP will find a reasonable price point... $9.99.
Nah!
What both Best Buy and HP want to avoid is adding additional real costs to an already thin profit potential.
It's the distribution theory of "re"...
Re-moving from inventory, re-palletizing, re-loading, re-transporting, re-ceiving, re-inspection, re-stocking, re-financing inventory, re-duced margin... lead to re-grets, and often, re-placement of management.
Add to that customer re-turns and it becomes a re-al lose-lose proposition.
What HP will do is extend payment terms for, say an additional 60 days so that
<weaslewords>
the full benefit of the TouchPad's recent price adjustment can be fully realized by the consumer
</weaselwords>
The thing that made me laugh is this:
" a senior HP executive will soon travel to Minneapolis to smooth things over with Best Buy executives."
Is the exec going to ride the Wells Fargo Stagecoach from Palo Alto to Minneapolis? Will he send a Telegram when he gets to Dodge?
Google just threw WebOS a lifeline by buying Motorola. all the other Android dependent smartphone OEM's have to start looking for OS alternatives immediately. if HP is smart and begins to license its smartphone WebOS pronto - which is in pretty good shape - it could have a big market impact real fast - 6 months to a year. that might even help prop up WebOS tablet sales a bit too.
let's see if HP has the brains to jump on this unexpected opportunity.
Huh? You say Google getting into the hardware business is going to get android cloners looking at alternatives, so they would go to HP which also makes OS/hardware? Am i missing something? what is the difference between the two?
The you have Microsoft/Nokia, with their horrid Microsoft Windows Phone 7 OS.
Companies had a choice when entering the phone business...develop their own OS/Hardware or go the cheaper short term route and be a "mee-too" cloner with nothing to differentiate your products. Classic short term thinking has led them to be in the passenger seat of the losing car.
HP can't play hardball with Best Buy and make them eat a (200,000+ x $300+ each $60+ million loss on the TouchPad. because then that would be the last HP product BB ever sells.
they'll make a deal. HP will do a big Holiday ad campaign featuring the "improved" TouchPad with some purported major OS update, the price will drop to $300 after an additional $100 HP "instant" rebate, and HP will take back whatever stock is left unsold after Xmas. all the other big chains will get the same deal.
that's my bet. just watch.
hey, by the way, whatever happened to all the unsold 7" Samsung Galaxy tabs? out of the 2.1 million "shipped" late last year. you know, that can't be upgraded even to Honeycomb (but oops Samsung forget tell buyers that). oh i see you can still buy one at J&R for just ... $350!! oh yeah, i bet they are selling zillions of those. (ok, one 16G wifi-only is listed now on eBay. with less than 2 days to go it is up to $155 after 29 bids. i'll put it on my watch list and see where it winds up.)
I'll back that bet action!
As to the 7" SammyTab -- they just did what a golfer does when he hits the ball with the driver...
As someone who used to work there and had access to cost, I can tell you that there is very little margin in computers (if any). At times, there are ever computers (or other products) being sold below cost to bring in the customer. That's why it's their goal to attach accessories and services to every product. HP is screwing them with this deal.
Every retailer claims that there's no margin on what they sell. I've had retailers tell me they make no money on Apple hardware, but then they also claim that there's no margin on software. I refuse to believe that they only make money selling accessories like cases, warranties and the magazines or candy they sell at the register. While the manufacturers have substantially reduced margins over the years, it's not credible that retailers have no margin on practically everything. And if that is the case, then the retailers should refuse to sell such products.
The question in this particular case is why did Best Buy make such a large inventory committment to the TouchPad before they had any idea whether it would sell? (Unless HP said they'd take them back if they didn't sell.) When I've gone into BB to inquire about products, they check inventory and they usually actually have very low levels, so I assumed that this was their strategy - to acquire inventory on demand.
Has anyone considered that Apple is going to bankrupt the "old line" technology companies? This is pretty much like the cold war.
Everyone is killing themselves to make an "iPad killer" and/or an "iPhone killer" and/or a "MacBook Air killer" and/or a "MacBook Pro killer". And they're failing. Miserably.
Google just spent more than its annual profits on MMI, just to compete with Apple so they can *give* away Android. HP is wasting time trying to sell TouchPads and hasn't managed to make either a decent Palm-based phone or tablet. Microsoft is creating a Windows 8 that may well abandon their existing Windows 7 base due to its radically different, touch-optimized UI.
The JooJoo. The Notion Ink Adam. Intel's Ultrabook initiative. Intel's Atom initiative. nVidia's Tegra. All promised to set the world on fire, but fizzled like a bad cigarette lighter.
Meanwhile, Apple has enough money to sit back and do nothing until all of these have spent themselves into oblivion.
If Steve Jobs can do all this, having literally brought Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy, while being monstrously ill, can you imagine what he would have accomplished if he were well? Even if Apple implodes tomorrow, every CEO of every Fortune 500...no, every Wilshire 5000 company should resign in shame and embarrassment.
Absolute genius.
Terrific post.
Welcome to the boards!
Add: Just noticed that you've been a member since April. Post more often!
If say roughly 250,000 units can't be sold by Best Buy nationwide and through online channels, something is very wrong with the product. Even if zero sales were made online, an average of 200 units of a brand-new tablet per store for a one month period is a very simple target.
Even if Apple sells 1 million iPads a month in the US alone, that's over 32,000 units PER DAY.
I still don't know why people think WebOS under HP really has any future at all. It's just rubbish, and will take another six months to be anywhere close to the iPad.
Maybe HP can turn things around, but this is really worse than anyone though. The anti-Apple sentiment, geek fantasies and blogs desperate for clicks and anything non-iPad are proven once again to be not even in the same universe as our current reality.
Google just threw WebOS a lifeline by buying Motorola. all the other Android dependent smartphone OEM's have to start looking for OS alternatives immediately. if HP is smart and begins to license its smartphone WebOS pronto - which is in pretty good shape - it could have a big market impact real fast - 6 months to a year. that might even help prop up WebOS tablet sales a bit too.
let's see if HP has the brains to jump on this unexpected opportunity.
I agree that there is an opportunity here, but it will take some finesse to pull it off.
Say, HP leaves the phone market altogether -- HP isn't really very good at it.
Then they make deals with Sammy, HTC, etc. to use WebOS on their phones.
Part of the deal is that the phone mfgrs won't sell their own WebOS tablets -- they really aren't very good at it.
Aside: It appears that phone manufacturers and carriers aren't very good at selling tablets -- Apple seems to have "cornered the market" of "how to sell tablets"
So, HP reserves the right to sell WebOS tablets for itself, and targets business, first (pay developers to write business apps) then consumers (pay developers), later.
HP sets up the WebOS ecosystem and encourages (initially pays for) development of phone and tablet apps, alike.
HP makes deals with its WebOS phone partners where each sells the others products into their markets -- HP sells Sammy and HTC phones to business (and some consumers) -- Sammy and HTC sell HP Tablets into their consumer markets.
They could even have a common branding using the WebOS (or some better) name.
Basically, Sammy and HTC would be providing HP with WebOS phones and HP would be providing Sammy HTC with WebOS Tablets.
Edit: Hmmm... I wonder who will manufacture those WebOS HP Tablets.
That's an opportunity that, if realized, could benefit all the players: the manufacturers, the developers, the business market, the consumer, and the industries (phone, tablet, computer).
"I would take one of them over an Android tablet though...."
And I can't go 5 minutes without seeing the Russell Brand TouchPad commercials on TV.
So... what is wrong with the TouchPad? Why aren't people buying them?
I think one of many reasons are the commercials. HP is using celebrities to sell I guess thinking we'll think, 'cool he/she says it's good - let me go buy one,' that doesn't always work esp in tech. While Apple uses emotions to connect to people in their commercials. Almost every Apple commercial in the past 2-3 years makes the viewer have some heartfelt emotion (like the early FaceTime ads showing the soldier talking to his gf and the deaf people signing and the grandfather looking at his grandchild on FaceTime. The iPad ads play on the parents and women's emotions showing how their kids can use it to learn and adults can use it for everyday task, etc). I really think that is one major reason the general people want Apple products, effective commercials that connect. Also Apple truly shows what people can do with their products instead of HP, motorola and others basically wiping screens across real quick and repeating over and over how their item runs Flash. Marketing/advertising are king!
WebOS is useless with not enough apps, and most importantly, owned by a company nobody trusts. Nowadays trust is the most important thing when selling tablets because it's a luxury and non-essential item. That's why all the Android tablets failed miserably.
I haven't heard of any wide "distrust" of HP... especially when compared to Google.
There is a rather simple way to resolve the WebOS apps issue -- pay developers.
The payment could take the form of:
-- up front payment
-- bonuses for early availability
-- inclusion in WebOS tablet and phone ads and promotions
-- guaranteed (underwritten) sales of the apps
-- special bonuses for multiple or follow-on apps.
That is what would get the attention of WebO$$ DEVELOPER$$ (sorry for yelling)
An iPad makes sense as it is the best tablet available and I can understand buying Android tablets if you already have an Android phone (as many people do). But a WebOS tablet?
You are assuming the few buyers even know what an OS is and don't under estimate the sales people in BestBuy. While strolling past the Apple stand in our BestBuy I actually heard the sales guy telling an elderly couple who had been eager to buy their first iPad that they would not be able to transfer the PC files to it and they would be better with either an Android or WebOS tablet ... The old lady said, "Oh, thank you."
We are rumored to get an Apple Store here soon TG!
Comments
In this thread I've heard:
"Kind of a shame. Its better than Android."
"I would take one of them over an Android tablet though...."
So... what is wrong with the TouchPad? Why aren't people buying them?
Therein lies the problem. You've answered your own question. People aren't buying them because people dont want to pay for them. Look at the first quote, where you read someone saying "They would take one over an Android". Tablets are not gifts, they are not awarded prizes.. they luxury devices requiring payment first. Noone is giving or taking anything here, you have to purchase it first.
In other words its easy to woulda, coulda, shoulda. Its another to thing to look at what you will actually spend your hard earned money on. If someone walks into a store looking to spend their money on a tablet. There are very few reasons to purchase a $400 HP Touchpad/Transformer or $500 Xoom/Tab.. over a $500 iPad2. Very few reasons.
As someone has said. There is no market for tablets. There is a market for the iPad.
BestBuy has approximately 1200 retail outlets (plus websites) to sell equipment through. That's roughly 200 units per storefront, which sounds extremely high.
I don't know about that.
Apple sold nearly 10 million iPads in the previous quarter which comes out to nearly, but not quite, 250k units sold per week.
Best Buy didn't order too many of them. They just aren't selling.
BestBuy has approximately 1200 retail outlets (plus websites) to sell equipment through. That's roughly 200 units per storefront, which sounds extremely high.
Yes, it was Best Buy's mistake to order so many.
However, BB does have a legitimate complaint against HP. They were promised a good quality product. To the extent that the TouchPad failed to live up to the marketing hype, HP does have some liability. Beyond liability, of course, is the matter of credibility. Even if HP didn't overhype the product, BB sells a lot of HP products and it may not be in HP's best interests to force the issue on a POS product that no one wants.
If say roughly 250,000 units can't be sold by Best Buy nationwide and through online channels, something is very wrong with the product. Even if zero sales were made online, an average of 200 units of a brand-new tablet per store for a one month period is a very simple target.
Even if Apple sells 1 million iPads a month in the US alone, that's over 32,000 units PER DAY.
I still don't know why people think WebOS under HP really has any future at all. It's just rubbish, and will take another six months to be anywhere close to the iPad.
Maybe HP can turn things around, but this is really worse than anyone thought. The anti-Apple sentiment, geek fantasies and blogs desperate for clicks and anything non-iPad are proven once again to be not even in the same universe as our current reality.
I think the main thing wrong w/the TouchPad in most people's eyes is it lacks an Apple logo and is not called the Ipad.
It's sad how often those who do not understand product categories, markets and relative value of competing products fall back to such ridiculous statements like this. Honestly, do you think Apple would put their logo on the product known as the HP TouchPad? Really? How does the build quality stack up to an actual Apple product? How about the OS? If you're breaking new ground with a completely different type of product, you can put something out that's sort of half baked and get away with it because everyone understand there was a lot of innovation going into your accomplishment. If you're entering an established market with just another "me too" product and you're trying to compete with a very polished product with a very large and established ecosystem... what do you expect? This product was DOA for very obvious reasons.
Also, if you're going to distinguish your product in some way, it should be for a feature that actually works. Flash on mobile is a big joke and it only serves to lower the end user experience. It didn't help all of the Android tablets, it didn't help RIM and it's not going to help HP.
one word. LOL.
I think that's actually 3 words. Or 1 acronym.
But regardless... it's accurate!
Yeah, 'cause electronics only get better with age. Like wine.
Well, I'm off to buy a VCR.
It's sad how often those who do not understand product categories, markets and relative value of competing products fall back to such ridiculous statements like this. Honestly, do you think Apple would put their logo on the product known as the HP TouchPad? Really? How does the build quality stack up to an actual Apple product? How about the OS? If you're breaking new ground with a completely different type of product, you can put something out that's sort of half baked and get away with it because everyone understand there was a lot of innovation going into your accomplishment. If you're entering an established market with just another "me too" product and you're trying to compete with a very polished product with a very large and established ecosystem... what do you expect? This product was DOA for very obvious reasons.
Also, if you're going to distinguish your product in some way, it should be for a feature that actually works. Flash on mobile is a big joke and it only serves to lower the end user experience. It didn't help all of the Android tablets, it didn't help RIM and it's not going to help HP.
Uhm I'm not falling back to anything. It's a simple fact, the Touchpad is not as high quality an item as the iPad, it doesn't have the number of apps, etc. For the general buying public tho (read:not geeks like us), it boils down simply to the fact that it is not an iPad, so they don't want it. That was the angle I was approaching from.
I don't get why anyone would buy an HP tablet.
An iPad makes sense as it is the best tablet available and I can understand buying Android tablets if you already have an Android phone (as many people do). But a WebOS tablet?
My cousin was able to get a 16 gigabyte Touchpad for $299 out the door a few weeks back (during Tennessee's no sales tax weekend). Staples had a $100 coupon on the touchpad for a few days right before HP cut the price $100. He has a Palm Pre phone so it worked out well for him. I personally would have recommended an iPad but for $299 and having a pre phone I couldn't fault him. Seemed like a real good deal to me.
Someone I know was boasting how he decided against the iPad because it didn't have a USB port. I asked, how often are you going to use an USB port on your tablet? His answer ... well, I don't know, but if I need it, it's there.
This is the flaw in HP and others thinking. Apple is great at designing and delivering a product that the customer doesn't know they want. Apple competitors design and deliver products based on what they (the company) think customers need.
Big difference.
Suck it up, Best Buy! If you're stupid enough to stock that many Touch Pads then you should pay the piper.
Be patient... soon HP will find a reasonable price point... $9.99.
Nah!
What both Best Buy and HP want to avoid is adding additional real costs to an already thin profit potential.
It's the distribution theory of "re"...
Re-moving from inventory, re-palletizing, re-loading, re-transporting, re-ceiving, re-inspection, re-stocking, re-financing inventory, re-duced margin... lead to re-grets, and often, re-placement of management.
Add to that customer re-turns and it becomes a re-al lose-lose proposition.
What HP will do is extend payment terms for, say an additional 60 days so that
<weaslewords>
the full benefit of the TouchPad's recent price adjustment can be fully realized by the consumer
</weaselwords>
The thing that made me laugh is this:
" a senior HP executive will soon travel to Minneapolis to smooth things over with Best Buy executives."
Is the exec going to ride the Wells Fargo Stagecoach from Palo Alto to Minneapolis? Will he send a Telegram when he gets to Dodge?
Google just threw WebOS a lifeline by buying Motorola. all the other Android dependent smartphone OEM's have to start looking for OS alternatives immediately. if HP is smart and begins to license its smartphone WebOS pronto - which is in pretty good shape - it could have a big market impact real fast - 6 months to a year. that might even help prop up WebOS tablet sales a bit too.
let's see if HP has the brains to jump on this unexpected opportunity.
Huh? You say Google getting into the hardware business is going to get android cloners looking at alternatives, so they would go to HP which also makes OS/hardware? Am i missing something? what is the difference between the two?
The you have Microsoft/Nokia, with their horrid Microsoft Windows Phone 7 OS.
Companies had a choice when entering the phone business...develop their own OS/Hardware or go the cheaper short term route and be a "mee-too" cloner with nothing to differentiate your products. Classic short term thinking has led them to be in the passenger seat of the losing car.
HP can't play hardball with Best Buy and make them eat a (200,000+ x $300+ each
they'll make a deal. HP will do a big Holiday ad campaign featuring the "improved" TouchPad with some purported major OS update, the price will drop to $300 after an additional $100 HP "instant" rebate, and HP will take back whatever stock is left unsold after Xmas. all the other big chains will get the same deal.
that's my bet. just watch.
hey, by the way, whatever happened to all the unsold 7" Samsung Galaxy tabs? out of the 2.1 million "shipped" late last year. you know, that can't be upgraded even to Honeycomb (but oops Samsung forget tell buyers that). oh i see you can still buy one at J&R for just ... $350!! oh yeah, i bet they are selling zillions of those. (ok, one 16G wifi-only is listed now on eBay. with less than 2 days to go it is up to $155 after 29 bids. i'll put it on my watch list and see where it winds up.)
I'll back that bet action!
As to the 7" SammyTab -- they just did what a golfer does when he hits the ball with the driver...
...They "smoothed" it!
As someone who used to work there and had access to cost, I can tell you that there is very little margin in computers (if any). At times, there are ever computers (or other products) being sold below cost to bring in the customer. That's why it's their goal to attach accessories and services to every product. HP is screwing them with this deal.
Every retailer claims that there's no margin on what they sell. I've had retailers tell me they make no money on Apple hardware, but then they also claim that there's no margin on software. I refuse to believe that they only make money selling accessories like cases, warranties and the magazines or candy they sell at the register. While the manufacturers have substantially reduced margins over the years, it's not credible that retailers have no margin on practically everything. And if that is the case, then the retailers should refuse to sell such products.
The question in this particular case is why did Best Buy make such a large inventory committment to the TouchPad before they had any idea whether it would sell? (Unless HP said they'd take them back if they didn't sell.) When I've gone into BB to inquire about products, they check inventory and they usually actually have very low levels, so I assumed that this was their strategy - to acquire inventory on demand.
Has anyone considered that Apple is going to bankrupt the "old line" technology companies? This is pretty much like the cold war.
Everyone is killing themselves to make an "iPad killer" and/or an "iPhone killer" and/or a "MacBook Air killer" and/or a "MacBook Pro killer". And they're failing. Miserably.
Google just spent more than its annual profits on MMI, just to compete with Apple so they can *give* away Android. HP is wasting time trying to sell TouchPads and hasn't managed to make either a decent Palm-based phone or tablet. Microsoft is creating a Windows 8 that may well abandon their existing Windows 7 base due to its radically different, touch-optimized UI.
The JooJoo. The Notion Ink Adam. Intel's Ultrabook initiative. Intel's Atom initiative. nVidia's Tegra. All promised to set the world on fire, but fizzled like a bad cigarette lighter.
Meanwhile, Apple has enough money to sit back and do nothing until all of these have spent themselves into oblivion.
If Steve Jobs can do all this, having literally brought Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy, while being monstrously ill, can you imagine what he would have accomplished if he were well? Even if Apple implodes tomorrow, every CEO of every Fortune 500...no, every Wilshire 5000 company should resign in shame and embarrassment.
Absolute genius.
Terrific post.
Welcome to the boards!
Add: Just noticed that you've been a member since April. Post more often!
If say roughly 250,000 units can't be sold by Best Buy nationwide and through online channels, something is very wrong with the product. Even if zero sales were made online, an average of 200 units of a brand-new tablet per store for a one month period is a very simple target.
Even if Apple sells 1 million iPads a month in the US alone, that's over 32,000 units PER DAY.
I still don't know why people think WebOS under HP really has any future at all. It's just rubbish, and will take another six months to be anywhere close to the iPad.
Maybe HP can turn things around, but this is really worse than anyone though. The anti-Apple sentiment, geek fantasies and blogs desperate for clicks and anything non-iPad are proven once again to be not even in the same universe as our current reality.
Bright minds think alike.
.
.
In this thread I've heard:
"Kind of a shame. Its better than Android."
"I would take one of them over an Android tablet though...."
And I can't go 5 minutes without seeing the Russell Brand TouchPad commercials on TV.
So... what is wrong with the TouchPad? Why aren't people buying them?
1) It sucks.
2) It isn't an iPad (see #1)
Google just threw WebOS a lifeline by buying Motorola. all the other Android dependent smartphone OEM's have to start looking for OS alternatives immediately. if HP is smart and begins to license its smartphone WebOS pronto - which is in pretty good shape - it could have a big market impact real fast - 6 months to a year. that might even help prop up WebOS tablet sales a bit too.
let's see if HP has the brains to jump on this unexpected opportunity.
I agree that there is an opportunity here, but it will take some finesse to pull it off.
Say, HP leaves the phone market altogether -- HP isn't really very good at it.
Then they make deals with Sammy, HTC, etc. to use WebOS on their phones.
Part of the deal is that the phone mfgrs won't sell their own WebOS tablets -- they really aren't very good at it.
Aside: It appears that phone manufacturers and carriers aren't very good at selling tablets -- Apple seems to have "cornered the market" of "how to sell tablets"
So, HP reserves the right to sell WebOS tablets for itself, and targets business, first (pay developers to write business apps) then consumers (pay developers), later.
HP sets up the WebOS ecosystem and encourages (initially pays for) development of phone and tablet apps, alike.
HP makes deals with its WebOS phone partners where each sells the others products into their markets -- HP sells Sammy and HTC phones to business (and some consumers) -- Sammy and HTC sell HP Tablets into their consumer markets.
They could even have a common branding using the WebOS (or some better) name.
Basically, Sammy and HTC would be providing HP with WebOS phones and HP would be providing Sammy HTC with WebOS Tablets.
Edit: Hmmm... I wonder who will manufacture those WebOS HP Tablets.
That's an opportunity that, if realized, could benefit all the players: the manufacturers, the developers, the business market, the consumer, and the industries (phone, tablet, computer).
In this thread I've heard:
"Kind of a shame. Its better than Android."
"I would take one of them over an Android tablet though...."
And I can't go 5 minutes without seeing the Russell Brand TouchPad commercials on TV.
So... what is wrong with the TouchPad? Why aren't people buying them?
I think one of many reasons are the commercials. HP is using celebrities to sell I guess thinking we'll think, 'cool he/she says it's good - let me go buy one,' that doesn't always work esp in tech. While Apple uses emotions to connect to people in their commercials. Almost every Apple commercial in the past 2-3 years makes the viewer have some heartfelt emotion (like the early FaceTime ads showing the soldier talking to his gf and the deaf people signing and the grandfather looking at his grandchild on FaceTime. The iPad ads play on the parents and women's emotions showing how their kids can use it to learn and adults can use it for everyday task, etc). I really think that is one major reason the general people want Apple products, effective commercials that connect. Also Apple truly shows what people can do with their products instead of HP, motorola and others basically wiping screens across real quick and repeating over and over how their item runs Flash. Marketing/advertising are king!
WebOS is useless with not enough apps, and most importantly, owned by a company nobody trusts. Nowadays trust is the most important thing when selling tablets because it's a luxury and non-essential item. That's why all the Android tablets failed miserably.
I haven't heard of any wide "distrust" of HP... especially when compared to Google.
There is a rather simple way to resolve the WebOS apps issue -- pay developers.
The payment could take the form of:
-- up front payment
-- bonuses for early availability
-- inclusion in WebOS tablet and phone ads and promotions
-- guaranteed (underwritten) sales of the apps
-- special bonuses for multiple or follow-on apps.
That is what would get the attention of WebO$$ DEVELOPER$$ (sorry for yelling)
I don't get why anyone would buy an HP tablet.
An iPad makes sense as it is the best tablet available and I can understand buying Android tablets if you already have an Android phone (as many people do). But a WebOS tablet?
You are assuming the few buyers even know what an OS is and don't under estimate the sales people in BestBuy. While strolling past the Apple stand in our BestBuy I actually heard the sales guy telling an elderly couple who had been eager to buy their first iPad that they would not be able to transfer the PC files to it and they would be better with either an Android or WebOS tablet ... The old lady said, "Oh, thank you."
We are rumored to get an Apple Store here soon TG!