Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 hasn't gone anywhere so far and there may be even less room for HP.
I'm not sure where you are getting this. It launched in North America in November (3 Months ago). Sales are a little slow, but reasonable given the difference in market conditions compared to when iOS and Android 2.0 launched. Besides, as I understand it they are slowly gaining market share. It seems to me that it is far too early to say whether it will go anywhere.
"We get the sense [HP] may already be conceding the smartphone market," said Caris & Co. analyst Robert Cihra in a note to clients.
That's right. HP is going to pack it in before even trying to make a return on investment. If a product fails, you cut your losses. You don't spend all the money on R&D and then cut off a perfectly viable product just before release. Further, doesn't HP already have more than one smartphone scheduled to be released this year.
It may be they are suggesting that HP is conceding the smartphone market with WebOS. I disagree. WebOS has a lot of potential. In many ways, it exceeds its competitors. HP hardware will be of the same quality whether you load WebOS or Android on it. I see no reason why they wouldn't release a WebOS smartphone. The worst I could see them doing is releasing it along side a model with a different OS (I.E. Android). They may not take the smartphone world by storm, but they should at least be able to recoup some of their losses.
This is a tough market that does not only require tons of investment but ingenious ideas and the willingness to take big risks. Copying what is already there may not cut it.
Interestingly enough, there are still features of the original WebOS that other companies are trying to copy: proper multitasking, superior integration, etc.. I'd say WebOS does far less "copying" than their competitors. The reviews I've read thus far suggest that HP is trying to capitalize on the strengths of the original while filling in the obvious holes.
Cihra added to his rather sobering note that HP has a "poor track record" outside PCs and printers.
As mentioned in an above post, HP has done well with phones in the past. Having had success with both phones and computers, I can't see any reason why they shouldn't be perfectly capable of producing quality smartphones and tablets. Whether they do or not remains to be seen.
On another note: I am formally requesting that tomsguide/tomshardware post the author's name (or initials) in the link on the front page. I no longer read half the articles I used to because certain authors waste my time with obviously biased and ridiculous claims that have no basis in truth. Linking the author to the article up front would allow me to read more articles while wasting less of my time. I suspect the quality of the articles from said authors would also improve once they stopped getting inflated hit numbers from people who click on the article only to realize who wrote it and immediately proceed to the next article.
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