I'm seriously starting to wonder what kind of water some of the bigger companies are drinking these days. With Netflix throwing their DVD Rental Service under the Qwikster brand only to withdraw almost immediately and leave things alone. And then with HP deciding to leave the PC market. As announced back in August, HP decided to look at selling off their PSG Group; which handles the home PC services and product lines. In order to align themselves more into the business hardware market. Kind of like IBM did back in the day; which turned out to be a really good move for IBM.
Now however, it looks as though they have changed their minds and issued a stay of execution for the PSG Group. I am completely aware that the way business has to be conducted has changed. The way companies operated 10 years ago when compared to now has become drastically different with the changes in the times, technology, cost, government restrictions, etc. But I don't see how confusing the crap out of current and potential customers is the way to go about things.
As far as the TouchPad goes, I wouldn't hold my breath for it. Considering nobody bought the device until HP decided to offload them quickly.
That's right, HP came back to world after pulling the plug on it's entry into the tablet industry by saying they are doing one more limited rollout of HP TouchPad's...What? Seriously?!
So let's get this straight, the only way they were able to move the existing stock of TouchPad's was to basically kill the production and drop support for the device. So everyone who had these little devices in stock basically, said "World, buy 'em up!" and firesold what was left. And we thought that would be it for the TouchPad. No more new TouchPad's hitting the market. They were done.
Existing owners can enjoy the device or delve into the modding world and try to exploit Android on the tablet. Now HP is saying they will make one more run with the TouchPad. At what point is enough really enough? I can't say that it is because of the money, because clearly there was a loss on the TouchPad's sold a couple of weeks ago. Could HP be getting greedy and try to slip a 'reduced' price TouchPad into the market (without it being the $99 low price seen a couple of weekends ago)?
HP hasn't released how much this last run of TouchPad will cost consumers. But it will be interesting to see what happens.
And to HP, I say: "Maybe as a company you should pick a side of the fence and stay on it.".
That's right, if you're one of the lucky consumers who decided to pick up one of the orphaned HP TouchPad's, there is good news for you! CyanogenMod 7 is now on the HP TouchPad. Here's the catch, right now it works but is pretty unstable and is currently in the alpha stage of developments. So basically, it boots. Nothing fancy, yet.
The folks in the CM7 community are saying they hope to roll out increased stability and added features in future releases. The future is looking a little brighter for the TouchPad folks.
If you're not familiar with CyanogenMod 7 it is a customer ROM for Android based devices that grants user's access to a customized version of the Gingerbread Release of the Android mobile OS. They have great support for a lot of Android based phones and even a few non-Honeycomb tablets.
Ok, so you were one of the many people who decided to take the risk and pickup one of the HP TouchPad's that were sold off this past weekend for a rather cheap $99. What now? Especially since it no longer has HP's support. You'll not get any future software updates. Not to mention app development is pretty much gone too. And since there currently isn't a working port of Android to use on it, what exactly can you do with it?
Well, here is a short list of things you could do with it:
1- Mobile Web Surfing
You could use the device solely for surfing the web or checking your email. Not to mention making your social network updates. All of this can still be done via the tablet minus manufacturer support. At least until web standards change, flash gets updates, etc. You'll have a very competent internet tablet.
2- eReader
At $99 the HP TouchPad could be one of the cheapest eReader devices on the market at present. You could use it to catch up on your reading with little trouble.
3- A Media Player
You can still run media files on it. So why not slap a digital copy of your favorite movie on it and take with you when you travel (legally of course).
4- A Digital Picture Frame
Remember a couple of Christmas' ago when all the rage seemed to be digital picture frames? A lot of those little devices are still rather pricey, so why not slap a bunch of your favorite pictures on it and display it on your desk. And when you want to show off your vacation pictures just snatch it up and take it with you.
5- A Coffee Table Computer
For $99 you can leave it on your coffee table, much like people do with magazines. If you have a guest over and they need to catch up on their news, or check email, or even schedule their DVR via the internet; just hand them the tablet and let them go.
6- A cheap device for the kids
Let's face it if you have kids around the house, electronics like this can take a lot of abuse (depending on their ages). So why not give them something to let them play with as opposed to your devices. They'll love you for it later, I promise.
7- Internet access while traveling
Why not use this solely as your means of being connected while abroad. Ever need to pull up a confirmation email for your hotel booking? This would be perfect for that. And you can leave you laptop, or more expensive tablet at home.
8- Assuming someone gets a decent version of Android running...
You could turn it into a cheap Android tablet. So far nothing has been released, but supposedly a project is in the works. Time will tell.
Let's just face it, regardless of the TouchPad's recent boot; if you purchased one, you have a very competent tablet device and you picked it up a lot cheaper than the rest of us did with our tablets. If you were an early adopter and picked one up when it hit the market, I'm sorry I feel your pain. You could always offload it on eBay to someone hoping to resell it if an Android ROM hits the web. But you'd be taking a loss on it.
So, it was an unfortunate death. But maybe the world can make the best out of the now defunct TouchPad.
Saturday HP started selling the 16GB HP TouchPad (yeah, the one that recently had it's plug pulled). And get this, the 32GB model is listed at $149. Now that is a heck of a deal for a tablet device. The downside, HP isn't supporting the device anymore.
What does this mean? Well for starters, no updates to webOS, no hardware updates for the device itself. A lack of offerings from 3rd party accessories since the tablet isn't manufacturer supported anymore; just to name a few. I was hoping either someone would swoop in and buy the rights to the device or a community of developers or device enthusiasts would decide to utilize the hardware in other ways.
So what might be possible in the near future? Well there appears to be a project ramping up to utilize the TouchPad as an Android device. That's right! Suppose this project goes well, the potential for a $99 Android Tablet is looking pretty good especially if you're looking to get your hands a little dirty with the workings of your $99 paperweight. So the future is looking somewhat brighter for the HP TouchPad, just not as a webOS device.
So by now you've probably heard that HP is selling of it's Personal Systems Group. Basically, that includes PC/laptops/smart phones, and that little HP TouchPad tablet that all of the cool people are advertising but nobody is buying. So what does this mean?
This is obviously a huge turning point for HP as a company. Until now HP was primarily known as the computer and printer company. They are one of the 3 leading PC manufacturers in the US. But suddenly they are getting out of that market? What are they thinking you may be asking? It is very obvious that computers are becoming faster, smaller, and in the case of this story cheaper. As the hardware gets cheaper, of course the profit margin that these manufacturers tap into is of course getting smaller.
Ten years ago, a PC half as powerful (if that) as an average use computer is now, would cost well over $1,000. My first Dell (purchased in 2004) cost me $1,100. It was a Pentium 4 running 2.4GHz, with 1GB of RAM and an older Nvidia Gforce card (I can't remember it's specs). My current rig is an Intel Core 2 Duo running a 3.0GHz with 2GB's of RAM with an nVidia 8600 GTS built almost 3 years ago for $400 with parts from Newegg.
The only company that seems to be able to make a rather substantial profit from their hardware sales appears to be Apple. And they sell quite a few less machines, but make more money on what they sell than any other PC manufacturer in the US. So, how do they do it?
Not sure, personally I believe it is smart implementation of their peripheral products. Namely, the iPod brand. Think about it. Before Apple released it's very first iPod music player, Apple computers were basically commonly found in graphic design offices. Applications were pretty scarce for it, and since their computers ran the older Power PC processors they were incompatible with anything else on the market. Then came along the iPod and a small program called iTunes.
Now people who never thought about Apple were picking up iPod's and using iTunes. The next step of course would be for a new customer to see what else Apple makes that might interest them. So they get into the older iMacs or early MacBooks. Fast forward several years, Apple makes a deal with Intel and replaces the Power PC processor for Intel. Now you have the ability to pick between Windows or Mac OS X. You can virtualize Windows using Parallels. Now that their machines are 'Intel-Based' more software is being developed for their platform. All the while, they continue to upgrade and build features into their devices that are based around apps like iTunes, easy use with their iPods. Meanwhile, iPods are getting bigger and better and being turned into phones and tablet devices. So in my opinion the iPod helped direct a lot of attention back to Apple over an extended period of time. Instead of being one of these: "Hey, look what we have, shiny new tech" and then a couple years later they fizzle out. Fast forward to 2011, people who own a Mac computer absolutely adore them.
Does this build up over time explain why Apple can sell a laptop and ask a substantially higher price for it and make more profit off of a single sale? Maybe, I'm not market analyst but this makes sense to me.
As of late HP hasn't made the best business decisions, but at least they have taken risks other companies may have stayed away from. For instance, remember when they bought out Palm? They bought Palm for $1 billion dollars the other year. Pretty much to strip out the webOS developed by Palm for the smart phone devices (which had a hard time selling) for use in future products. Fast forward to now, they have released the HP TouchPad which has snazzy commercials being about the only thing going for it. And in the meantime, will someone decide webOS is still valuable enough to invest in from HP? Time will tell.
BTW, I love the Russell Brand 'Ostrich Commerical' for the TouchPad. HP tried to do exactly what RIM did. Both companies attempted to bring a tablet device into a market completely owned by Apple and Android at the moment. As RIM found out with the Blackberry PlayBook, other devices are having a difficult time breaking through the crowd of Android devices and iPads. Sure, they are nice devices. But let's face it, why not go with the flow and ride the cash train while we can. And it's at the point now that even Best Buy is trying desperately to be rid of the TouchPad.
So what does this mean for HP as a company? Well, they are doing pretty much what IBM did years ago. They are going to be focused more towards enterprise solutions where the sales are typically larger with a larger profit margin. And for the most part, this has worked pretty well for IBM.
And what does this mean for the home PC market? Is it dead? Not quite. There will always be a need (at least in our foreseeable future) for PC's. After all, even devices that rely solely on the cloud (looking at you Google Chromebooks) without a PC or Server sitting in a data center somewhere, those devices will not have a reason to access the 'cloud'. And let's face it, sure mobility is great. But there comes a time (and some tasks) that a mobile device just can't handle yet. Would Pixar be able to render another sequel to 'Cars' solely on an iPad? Not currently. Would Netflix be able to serve millions of subscribers using a data center of Android Tablets (definitely not at the rate they allow these devices access to their services). So as far as I can see, PC's are going to be around for a while to come. This doesn't mean they will be the most popular or most practical form of computing. But they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Maybe one day a form of cluster computing may emerge that allows the internet to become a thriving, mobile entity as many devices are trying to make it now where everyone's computer serves everyone else's. But that is a whole other security story in itself. In the meantime, don't expect to see many TouchPad's floating around and the household HP Pavilion Laptop appears to be going the way of the dodo bird.
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