HP To Apple: You Win. As I write this, I’m sitting in a cafe.
Around me, there are five people on laptops — four of them are MacBooks. Four other people are using tablets — all four are iPads. Welcome to the Post-PC world. That phrase was one of the first things that jumped to my mind today when I heard the news that HP was not only killing off their TouchPad and Pre webOS-based products, but also trying to spin-off their PC business. The largest PC business in the world, mind you. And HP’s statements during their earnings call today only further reaffirmed the idea of the Post-PC world. “Consumers are changing the use of their PC,” HP CEO Leo Apotheker said. But wait, then why is he exiting the tablet space after only a matter of weeks?
Put another way, “Apple, you win.” And not just in the tablet space. After all, while HP may be the worldwide leader in PC sales with massive revenues, their actual profit from those sales has already been far surpassed by Apple. The writing is on the wall. HTC? RIP TouchPad: HP To Shut Down WebOS Operations. After confirming that it is looking into spinning off its PC business , Hewlett-Packard made a more shocking announcement Thursday: it is going to “discontinue operations for webOS devices.” And that’s the end of the line for its just-launched tablet, the HP TouchPad. HP, the world’s largest computer maker, has had limited success with mobile devices.
In April 2010, HP purchased Palm for $1.2 billion, largely because of the potential of the webOS platform. So HP’s about-face on webOS comes as a surprise, especially coming six weeks after the TouchPad went on sale . In the press release detailing its preliminary Q3 2011 financial results , the company had this to say: The webOS-based TouchPad was seen by many (including ) as a real competitor to Apple’s iPad. Earlier this week, reported that Best Buy had sold at best just 10% of its TouchPad inventory , leaving more than 225,000 units in warehouses.
HP abandonne ses tablettes et smartphones sous WebOS ! Alors que des études publiées récemment montrent une domination écrasante de la tablette d’Apple et prévoient peu d’évolution de cette domination avant plusieurs années, alors que Samsung se débat dans uns procédure judiciaire avec Apple qui retarde le lancement de sa Galaxy Tab 10.1, c’est cette fois HP qui mord la poussière. Décidément la vie des concurrents (ou plutôt, pour le moment, des challengers) de l’ iPad n’est pas un long fleuve tranquille. Alors que des études publiées récemment (j’y reviendrai dans un article séparé) montrent une domination écrasante de la tablette d’Apple et prévoient peu d’évolution de cette domination avant plusieurs années, alors que Samsung se débat dans uns procédure judiciaire avec Apple qui retarde le lancement de sa Galaxy Tab 10.1, c’est cette fois HP qui mord la poussière. In addition, HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones.
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