HP Dumping Tablet and Phone Products, webOS on Hold

[memadmax]

wow.... and all that money that went into that big commercial campaign for this thing down the tubes as well...

You see commercials for this thing practically everywhere...

 

[slabbo]

I feel bad for those who bought a TouchPad when they had a price cut (still too expensive IMO). HP should stick with it longer and use it for their printers and other devices like they said they were. I wanted to see how that would pan out. It's good to have more competition and with all the good things I heard about it, it could have found its niche and be profitable.

HP needed to give the new kid (WebOS) more time, before deciding they don't wanna be friends with him anymore.

 

[zoemayne]

wow if i was a developer at HP i would quit to be working on something for so long and they didnt even give it a chance after releasing it too little time/marketing seems to be what i here

 

[jdwii]

maybe this proves the only people making money off tablets is apple

 

[guyjones]

Hard to see this move as anything other than HP waving the white flag in the face of the iOS and Android juggernaut. Somewhat disappointing to hear, though, from the standpoint of someone who values more competition in the market, as opposed to less. I mean, if a storied company with deep pockets and talented workers like HP can't put WebOS to good use and deliver some worthy products to market, this really is an admission of how difficult it is to compete in the mobile market today.

So, HP basically just wasted $1.5 billion on WebOS and is going to bury it and write it off? I've never used WebOS, but had heard it had some merit. Too bad it didn't land with a company that was serious about bringing it to fruition.

 

[Userremoved]

Oh come on HP! Get back on your feet. Or at least sue the shit out of Apple (please).

 

[Darkerson]

Why am I NOT surprised. And not only did they piss away a nice chunk of change on this little endeavor, now there are going to be a lot of talented people kicked to the curb, all because they got cold feet so quickly...Rather sad...

 

[legacy7955]

HP should have kept its focus on what it does best the PC and server business.

I am so sick of companies like HP listening to forking consultants instead of listening to their consumers and paying attention to what made them great in the forst place.

I hope HP is not selling off it's PC business, because at least when it comes to the business and desktops they still have some of the best products for the money out there!

 

[halcyon]

Its funny how these companies try to compete with the iPad and when they realize they really can't they just give up. I mean, what did HP expect its TouchPad to do? Be popular and sell? Please. Most people haven't even heard of a touchPad.

 

[kikireeki]

HP please put your notebook division on hold too.

 

[bebangs]

expecting the same thing for nokia...

 

[legacy7955]

[citation][nom]shqtth[/nom]How did they get such a retarded CEO in?Are they hiring from the looney bin?All that CEO wants to do is sell stuff off, make brain dead investors happy (temporarily), then make a company thats sell nothing, meanwhile making a big bonus that he doesn't deserve, as well as siphoning off $$$ from the sales of core businesses.If HP PC business is sold off, then it would loose its branding, and the new business would be worthless, also a lot of people bundle a pc with a printer, so basically this would effect their printer sales. In a way, having HP have a pc in 17.5% (of new computers), is a lot, and they control 17.5% (they can preload shit, dictate what software is on whos pc, use its share in the PC market to influence new buyers). 17.5% is a lot of power if used in the right hands.I for one would stop buying HP computers/laptops if they not HP, because that would just be another chinese brand then.I am all about brands. Most people are all about brands. (THis is why Apple exists)Anyways, its hard to up sell customers and/or have a market influence when not everyone is using your products anymore. Having a large market share, means that everyone knows the HP brand, and it has big benefits.[/citation]

Well said.

Another of the best things HP has going for it is very good customer service and support, you KNOW this will suffer if HP sells off.

I too would stop buying HP if they sell off. I think a better idea although I don't think it is really a good one is to create a separate consumer division.

In any case they definitely should streamline the offerings in the small business and consumer catagory and up the overall hardware quality a bit about where it was in the late 90s to early 2000s.

 

[emperorxyz]

[citation][nom]illo[/nom]no, it was a waste of money. 1.2 billion for a lost cause is a waste of money no matter what sort of government/society is in place.[/citation]

But think of the alternative. I presume that HP decided to abandon WebOS because it wasn't making a profit. WebOS being a bad idea became obvious very quickly in a free market simply because it isn't selling. You can't require people to buy your product because there is competition. Alternatively, if you were in a communist society, you'd only have one product on the market made by the government and the government would continue to invest and waste money in that product even if it was a bad idea like WebOS.

[citation][nom]bin1127[/nom]Wow, where'd you pull that argument from? Maybe you should protest the current communist wave by forfeiting your pension and health care. And put buckets of water around your house in case a fire breaks loose because unionized firefighters will be the end of America.[/citation]

I assume we all live in the West and yet you have a very narrow idea of what capitalism is. In a capitalist society, the government have very important roles to play for redistribution of wealth, health care, education, maintenance and creation of public goods such as road infrastructures, national defense, clean environment, fire protection, legal institutions, etc... We may argue how much role the government should play in those areas and how those roles should be played, but being a capitalist does not mean advocating for an a government that does not provide any service at all. The most defining characteristic of a communist society is when the government starts running most businesses as well. Compared to that kind of situation, I can help but to think that the fact that WebOS is being abandoned is just free market working at its best. You can't always get a product right the first time or even the second or third time. The difference in a capitalist society is that you'd realize your mistake quickly and cut your losses while in a communist society, you continue to throw good money at bad.

 

[bebangs]

touchpad would sell if it was android.

 

[Archean]

I wasn't expecting HP to spin off PSG, as despite some shortcomings generally their products / and support are reasonable enough. It is interesting to see that they are citing 'lower margins' as one of the reasons for this, which is incomprehensible since they have the largest share in this area.

Regarding webOS I agree with others that they are giving up too early, forgetting that you may loose a battle or few at that, but the eventual target is wining the war.

 

[g00b]

HP needs to refund everyone directly -- the vendors shouldn't have to absorb this ... HP pushes the TouchPad last weekend with their discount, then cancel the product the following weekend ... nice.

 

[yggar]

To summarize:

No GPS
No GSM/UMTS
No Card Reader
Ugly App/Application Store (or whatewer) - having ~30 app is NOT A STORE, IT's a SHAME!
No MS Office editing support
Bonus: you have Angry Birds there! ROFLMAO!

Price in Germany - 499 EUR

For comparision cheap chinese Android tablet costs ~100-150 USD.

So who is going to buy that s..t? iPad2 from same store costs 579 EUR (32GB+WiFi), and had GPS too (16GB version is even cheaper that HP;s tablet). Acer Iconia (Windows 7 based tablet) costs ONLY 469 EURO, and you can run MSOffice on it. Paying 499 EURO for useless device? Who will?

I guess someone has to be fired from HP, maybe half of the management. Or the whole bunch.

 

[ravewulf]

Oops (not sorry at all)

I'm bitter because they got rid of their touch/pen laptop and replaced it with this thing.

It's completely useless compared to a touch/pen laptop that I can use with Photoshop, take notes in classes, and play games on.

I hope they bring back the touch/pen laptop cause my old one's graphics chip died on me recently.

 

[Userremoved]

[citation][nom]ravewulf[/nom]Oops (not sorry at all)I'm bitter because they got rid of their touch/pen laptop and replaced it with this thing. It's completely useless compared to a touch/pen laptop that I can use with Photoshop, take notes in classes, and play games on.I hope they bring back the touch/pen laptop cause my old one's graphics chip died on me recently.[/citation]
Dell just came out with a new model. You might want to look at it.

 

[ravewulf]

[citation][nom]Userremoved[/nom]Dell just came out with a new model. You might want to look at it.[/citation]
You mean those Inspiron Duo's with the screen that flips within its own frame? They look a bit weird and it only comes with Intel Atom. I'm looking for something with a bit more CPU and GPU power. I wouldn't mind one of AMD's APUs. Wacom pen support ("Penabled" passive/electromagnetic) is also a must.