. HP pulled the plug Thursday on its TouchPad tablet device, which was launched June 1, and plans to discontinue its WebOS-based smartphones
"Our. TouchPad has not been gaining enough traction in the marketplace," told HP CEO Leo Apotheker in a conference call. "We have made the difficult but necessary decision to shut down the WebOS hardware operations"
The. move marks a reversal of strategy for the world's. largest computer maker. HP gainful $12. billion in April 2010 to acquire Palm, developer of the WebOS software that powers its smartphones and tablets, in a bid to stand out in the mobile market
TouchPad's. untimely demise "has as much to do with the commoditization of the PC business as it does with Apple," says Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps
Retail presence in particular has been a problem for HP's. TouchPad, she says. Selling at Best Buy and other big-box retailers, where many similar products sit side by side, makes it hard for PC makers to stand out. That runs in stark contrast to Apple's. slick retail presence, where iPads and iPhones find prominent display and unrivaled service, she points out
HP's. TouchPad also didn't. have the apps presence or a store, comparable to iTunes, that is necessary to drive consumer interest. At launch, HP boasted some 300 apps would be available for the TouchPad, compared with the roughly 90,000 that were available to Apple's. iPad
The. computing giant's. WebOS-based Palm Pre held a beleaguered position as well. In rankings, it didn't. even occupy a spot on researcher Gartner's. top 10 list of mobile devices sold worldwide. HP's. WebOS fared poorly, too. On Gartner's. rankings for top smartphone sales by mobile operating system worldwide, WebOS didn't. even create it among the top six listed companies
Research. In Motion's. PlayBook tablet is the next to go down in flames, Epps predicts. "I won't. be surprised to see RIM abandon the tablet market"
Hewlett-Packard's. chief told the company will be "exploring options" as to what next to do with WebOS
IDC. analyst Crawford Del Prete says those might include licensing WebOS and keeping it for HP's. printer business and other future mobile aspirations
"They. decided to pull the trigger early," Del Prete says of the decision to kill WebOS devices. "It was a combination that the iPad was a runaway hit and the Apple ecosystem" made it hard for HP to match with its TouchPad.
0 komentar:
Post a Comment