HP kills TouchPad, looks to exit PC business

Who would've thought it come to this?

I wish Balmer and the ilk at MS would take note of this.

Balmer dismissed the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, etc., and now finds himself playing catch up.

Fact is, HP, Sony, Dell---all of the big players had a decade to figure out how to get a

tablet PC to the market, but dismissed it as a 'niche' market at best. Even Microsoft's

HIGHLY PUBLICIZED "ginger" tablet PC failed miserably.

None of these companies really think outside the box, and when they do, it's always some

silly-ass thing nobody wants or needs. Why is Windows 8 pushing touch-screen laptops?

Who wants to touch their laptop screens? It means your hand has to travel even more

to touch the damned thing---multiply that by hours and hours of computing, and

that feature will NEVER be used.

None of the large PC makers are able to make a product at the same price point

as Apple's ultra thin laptop (the Macbook Air), and it looks like they'll now be

releasing models that are priced just around the same (at each company's loss)

or a bit more expensive---with a an OS that doesn't offer any advantages

to OS-x to boot.

And now tablet makers are struggling to get their tablets to do the same within

a decent price point, and the companies that do, are aiming for an 'all bells and whistles'

approach, rather than deciding which features will actually be used regularly by

their base.

And if you read the articles around HP (And some of the other struggling manufacturers),

they're all talking about profit margins, and most economically viable recoupoing of

investments, blah blah blah.

You would never see Steve Jobs doing that in public. His has a simple, simple approach.

Build a great product, surround it with 'culture (ie--make it cool)', and continually

improve it. In other words, it's about your products--not your business. You can find

alternatives to Apple products that have more features, but you can also get more

stuff inside a Chevy than you can a Lexus for the same price point--which company

is struggling the most?

These PC makers lack vision. It's all about faster, larger, more juice. Jobs took for

granted that faster, larger, etc. would happen--he went beyond that and said, "now,

what can we do?"

When Ballmer (From MS) scoffed at Jobs' description of the PC as being a truck,

I almost laughed out loud. Per Jobs:

You'll always need trucks, but PCs will be but one of a series of devices in the home.

Yet, ancient thinking Ballmer believes the PC will be the king of the home for ages to come.

And, although I don't understand why I would ever need a tablet computer, the

obvious trend now is towards this vision Jobs described a couple years ago.

Now before folks think this is just a praise of Apple, it's not. The reason why the PC

makers dissapoint me, and why MS dissapoints me, is that they're paving their

way for a future in which MS will be confined to a business environment while

at the home, Apple products will become unchallenged (outside of the PC, which

will dwindle in use).

This means, without real compitition, Apple will eventually, once Jobs retires,

turn into a fat, lazy company without vision of its own. Being hungry

is what caused this this company to so agressively invent. WIthout that,

it'll just be another silly ass Microsoft story.

,

[Edited 8/18/11 19:53pm]

[Edited 8/18/11 20:01pm]

imago said:

I wash Balmer and the ilk at MS would take note of this.

Balmer dismissed the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, etc., and now finds himself playing catch up.

Fact is, HP, Sony, Dell---all of the big players had a decade to figure out how to get a

tablet PC to the market, but dismissed it as a 'niche' market at best. Even Microsoft's

HIGHLY PUBLICIZED "ginger" tablet PC failed miserably.

None of them really think outside the box, and when they do, it's always some

silly ass thing nobody wants or needs. Why is Windows 8 pushing touch-screen laptops?

Who wants to touchtheir laptop screens? It means your hand has to travel even more

to touch the damned thing---multiply that by hours and hours of computing, and

that feature will NEVER be used.

None of the large PC makers are able to make a product at the same price point

as Apple's ultra thin laptop (the Macbook Air), and it looks like they'll now be

releasing models that are priced just around the same (at the company's loss)

or a bit more expensive---with a an OS that doesn't offer any advantages

to OS-x to boot.

And now tablet makers are struggling to get their tablets to do the same withing

a decent price point, and the ones that do, are going for a 'all bells and whistles'

approach instead of deciding which features will actually be used regularly by

their base.

And if you read the articles around HP (And some of the other struggling manufacturers),

they're all talking about profit margins, and most economically viable recoupoing of

investments, blah blah blah.

You would never see Steve Jobs doing that in public. His is a simple, simple approach.

Build a great product, surround it with 'culture (ie--make it cool)', and continually

improve it. In other words, it's about your products--not your business. You can find

alternatives to Apple products that have more features, but you can also get more

stuff inside a Chevy than you can a Lexus for the same price point--which company

is struggling the most?

These PC makers lack vision. It's all about faster, larger, more juice. Jobs took for

granted that faster, larger, etc. would happen--he went beyond that and said, "now,

what can we do?"

When Ballmer (From MS) scoffed at Jobs' description of the PC as being a truck,

I almost laughed out loud. Per Jobs:

You'll always need trucks, but it will be but one of a series of devices in the home.

Ballmer believes the PC will be the king of the home for ages to come.

And, although I don't understand why I would ever need a table computer, the

obvious trend now is towards this vision Jobs describe a couple years ago.

Now before folks think this is just a praise of Apple, it's not. The reason why the PC

makers dissapoint me, and why MS dissapoints me, is that they're paving their

way for a future in which MS will be confined to a business environment while

at the home, Apple products will become unchallenged (outside of the PC, which

will dwindle in use).

This means, without real compitition, Apple will eventually, once Jobs retires,

turn into a fat, lazy company without vision of its own. Being hungry

is what cause this this company to so agressively invent. WIthout that,

it'll just be another silly ass Microsoft story.

Reading this made me think Nintendo is the Apple of the video game world.

FauxReal said:

imago said:

I wash Balmer and the ilk at MS would take note of this.

Balmer dismissed the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, etc., and now finds himself playing catch up.

Fact is, HP, Sony, Dell---all of the big players had a decade to figure out how to get a

tablet PC to the market, but dismissed it as a 'niche' market at best. Even Microsoft's

HIGHLY PUBLICIZED "ginger" tablet PC failed miserably.

None of them really think outside the box, and when they do, it's always some

silly ass thing nobody wants or needs. Why is Windows 8 pushing touch-screen laptops?

Who wants to touchtheir laptop screens? It means your hand has to travel even more

to touch the damned thing---multiply that by hours and hours of computing, and

that feature will NEVER be used.

None of the large PC makers are able to make a product at the same price point

as Apple's ultra thin laptop (the Macbook Air), and it looks like they'll now be

releasing models that are priced just around the same (at the company's loss)

or a bit more expensive---with a an OS that doesn't offer any advantages

to OS-x to boot.

And now tablet makers are struggling to get their tablets to do the same withing

a decent price point, and the ones that do, are going for a 'all bells and whistles'

approach instead of deciding which features will actually be used regularly by

their base.

And if you read the articles around HP (And some of the other struggling manufacturers),

they're all talking about profit margins, and most economically viable recoupoing of

investments, blah blah blah.

You would never see Steve Jobs doing that in public. His is a simple, simple approach.

Build a great product, surround it with 'culture (ie--make it cool)', and continually

improve it. In other words, it's about your products--not your business. You can find

alternatives to Apple products that have more features, but you can also get more

stuff inside a Chevy than you can a Lexus for the same price point--which company

is struggling the most?

These PC makers lack vision. It's all about faster, larger, more juice. Jobs took for

granted that faster, larger, etc. would happen--he went beyond that and said, "now,

what can we do?"

When Ballmer (From MS) scoffed at Jobs' description of the PC as being a truck,

I almost laughed out loud. Per Jobs:

You'll always need trucks, but it will be but one of a series of devices in the home.

Ballmer believes the PC will be the king of the home for ages to come.

And, although I don't understand why I would ever need a table computer, the

obvious trend now is towards this vision Jobs describe a couple years ago.

Now before folks think this is just a praise of Apple, it's not. The reason why the PC

makers dissapoint me, and why MS dissapoints me, is that they're paving their

way for a future in which MS will be confined to a business environment while

at the home, Apple products will become unchallenged (outside of the PC, which

will dwindle in use).

This means, without real compitition, Apple will eventually, once Jobs retires,

turn into a fat, lazy company without vision of its own. Being hungry

is what cause this this company to so agressively invent. WIthout that,

it'll just be another silly ass Microsoft story.

Reading this made me think Nintendo is the Apple of the video game world.

Nintendo is!!!

The Wii save Nintendo's arses, but the real problem Nintendo faces is this:

the handheld devices are in trouble because of cellphones and iPad/iPods.

Handheld gaming devices are a single-solution to a single entertainment need,

where as the iPods offer webrowsing, videogames, videochat, etc.

Nintendo released it's 3DS (handhelds are traditinoally their bread and butter),

at a price point of $250, the most costly they've ever released,

with really only one real added feature that an Ipod can't reproduce.... 3D

It's sort of a one-trick pony, and I think Nintendo realizes this.

i think they need to step away from looking at the PSP as their competition--it's not.

They've already beat it....and look towards iPods and iPhones as their competition.

..but yeah, Nintendo is sort of like the Apple of the video game industry to some extent.

They're exiting the computer business because it has become commoditized so there is no profit margin anymore. Well, technically maybe under 5% but why give them away to hook people on other products?

SUPRMAN said:

They're exiting the computer business because it has become commoditized so there is no profit margin anymore. Well, technically maybe under 5% but why give them away to hook people on other products?

The reason Steve Jobs and Apple can do what they do is because they are marketing their products directly to consumers while the other PC manufacturers are marketing to businesses as well as consumers. The reason Microsoft, Compaq, HP, and Dell were so dominant in the 1990's and early 2000's was because their main markets were looking for functional tools. and because they dealt with simple functional stuff, they made a lot of money. But as Moore's law imporved the functionality of computer parts while simultaneously lowering the price, it allowed fringe companies to make cheap knockoffs that worked just as well as the big name PC's, thus eating heavily into their profit margins. Meanwhile, Apple was focusing on designing products that people would desire, rush out to get and tell all their friends about. At the same time. Google, IBM, Oracle, and others were working on "the cloud", which took many of the functions essential to PC's and put it out in the open for anyone to use.

TD3 said:

HP kills TouchPad, looks to exit PC business

Who would've thought it come to this?

I did because I think their products suck.

Vendetta1 said:

TD3 said:

HP kills TouchPad, looks to exit PC business

Who would've thought it come to this?

I did because I think their products suck.

i just bought a HP Envy Beat notebook.

My surprised is, the herky-jerky way HP has gone about things. They've spent billions acquiring Compaq computers, they developed some pretty good higher end notebooks only to yank them soon after their debut. I think HP has "a vision" problem along with quality problems. Still, 1/3 of their profits are PC's... it's going to be interesting to see how it all ends up.

I'm not one to get in the Apple vs PC debate is seems silly but (whatever works for you) Apple overall is a niche player... though a very influential and successful niche PC maker. One of the major reasons for Apples' hudge success -besides producing a damn good product - they make fewer products which return big profits.

SUPRMAN said:

They're exiting the computer business because it has become commoditized so there is no profit margin anymore. Well, technically maybe under 5% but why give them away to hook people on other products?

Harware prices have always been a low profit margin business. That's why membership-based direct-from-wholesale companies never offer computer equipment as an item they can do buy-directs on. Because you'd save nothing, and they'd make no money from them.

Hardware for the last 15 years has been as low as it can go and still maintain profits for companies.

Dell, HP, Apple--they all tack premiums on the hardware after the PCs are assembled, so they

earn a good deal of money off these items.

However, they must sell A LOT of these items to generate large profits.

The real commodization that's been taking place is in the services these companies build around

their hardware. THAT's been changing a lot and in many cases devaluing their brand.

HP and Dell shot themselves in the foot by outsourcing so many of their services oversees.

Customers got frustrated and started looking at alternatives. To my knowlege both companies

have already started pulling back.

And the hardware doesn't stop at PCs either. Printers are low profit margin items too. The real

money is made on ink cartridges, paper, etc. which must be continuously renewed.

.

Check this out: http://www.macrumors.com/...-touchpad/

Remember, these are huge companies with vast resources. And they're having to play catch up.

It's not because their engineers are stupid. It's because their leaders lack vision.

Starting tomorrow the 20th, The Touchpad goes on sale for $99 bucks at all retailers. If you want something for just email and web browsing it's a steal. They will sell out quick.

They officially go on sale tomorrow morning at 7:am

I'm getting one through Amazon in the morning if there are any still in stock.

[Edited 8/19/11 21:26pm]

V10LETBLUES said:

Starting tomorrow the 20th, The Touchpad goes on sale for $99 bucks at all retailers. If you want something for just email and web browsing it's a steal. They will sell out quick.

They officially go on sale tomorrow morning at 7:am

I'm getting one through Amazon in the morning if there are any still in stock.

I just read about this!

I want one!

V10LETBLUES said:

Starting tomorrow the 20th, The Touchpad goes on sale for $99 bucks at all retailers. If you want something for just email and web browsing it's a steal. They will sell out quick.

They officially go on sale tomorrow morning at 7:am

I'm getting one through Amazon in the morning if there are any still in stock.

[Edited 8/19/11 21:26pm]

Which one? The 16GB Wi-Fi or the 32GB Wi-Fi? I just checked Amazon, and the new ones are $475!!! That's quite a jump down to $99, so I hope this is all true!! Cool beans.

alexnvrmnd777 said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Starting tomorrow the 20th, The Touchpad goes on sale for $99 bucks at all retailers. If you want something for just email and web browsing it's a steal. They will sell out quick.

They officially go on sale tomorrow morning at 7:am

I'm getting one through Amazon in the morning if there are any still in stock.

[Edited 8/19/11 21:26pm]

Which one? The 16GB Wi-Fi or the 32GB Wi-Fi? I just checked Amazon, and the new ones are $475!!! That's quite a jump down to $99, so I hope this is all true!! Cool beans.

$99 for 16GB and $149 for 32GB

alexnvrmnd777 said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Starting tomorrow the 20th, The Touchpad goes on sale for $99 bucks at all retailers. If you want something for just email and web browsing it's a steal. They will sell out quick.

They officially go on sale tomorrow morning at 7:am

I'm getting one through Amazon in the morning if there are any still in stock.

[Edited 8/19/11 21:26pm]

Which one? The 16GB Wi-Fi or the 32GB Wi-Fi? I just checked Amazon, and the new ones are $475!!! That's quite a jump down to $99, so I hope this is all true!! Cool beans.

I'm getting the 16GB model, they will be sold "as is" and I don't want to invest too much into something that will no have no support or further apps in the near future or ever.

Also by Xmas season there will be a ton of Android tabs on clearance sales as there is so much unsold inventory sitting warehouses that will need to be cleared out.

Expect the BB Playbook to go super cheap on the discount bins before the end of the year too.

[Edited 8/19/11 23:40pm]

V10LETBLUES said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Which one? The 16GB Wi-Fi or the 32GB Wi-Fi? I just checked Amazon, and the new ones are $475!!! That's quite a jump down to $99, so I hope this is all true!! Cool beans.

I'm getting the 16GB model, they will be sold "as is" and I don't want to invest too much into something that will no have no support or further apps in the near future or ever.

Also by Xmas season there will be a ton of Android tabs on clearance sales as there is so much unsold inventory sitting warehouses that will need to be cleared out.

Expect the BB Playbook to go super cheap on the discount bins before the end of the year too.

[Edited 8/19/11 23:40pm]

Unfortunately, Best Buy and Amazon are still showing their normal price for this model, and it's 7:37 am EDT at the moment. Exactly what websites are participating in this? All of them?

alexnvrmnd777 said:

V10LETBLUES said:

I'm getting the 16GB model, they will be sold "as is" and I don't want to invest too much into something that will no have no support or further apps in the near future or ever.

Also by Xmas season there will be a ton of Android tabs on clearance sales as there is so much unsold inventory sitting warehouses that will need to be cleared out.

Expect the BB Playbook to go super cheap on the discount bins before the end of the year too.

[Edited 8/19/11 23:40pm]

Unfortunately, Best Buy and Amazon are still showing their normal price for this model, and it's 7:37 am EDT at the moment. Exactly what websites are participating in this? All of them?

The HP website shows them for full price, but when you click to buy shows the discounted price of $99 bucks. But shows it out of stock. Best Buy shows it as out of stock. Maybe they sale starts at a later time today or they can really be out of stock.

There is a Best Buy just down the street, I will stop by when they open.

*I ordered mine online here

http://www.microcenter.co...id=0366316

[Edited 8/20/11 6:31am]

V10LETBLUES said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Unfortunately, Best Buy and Amazon are still showing their normal price for this model, and it's 7:37 am EDT at the moment. Exactly what websites are participating in this? All of them?

The HP website shows them for full price, but when you click to buy shows the discounted price of $99 bucks. But shows it out of stock. Best Buy shows it as out of stock. Maybe they sale starts at a later time today or they can really be out of stock.

There is a Best Buy just down the street, I will stop by when they open.

*I ordered mine online here

http://www.microcenter.co...id=0366316

[Edited 8/20/11 6:31am]

I just got mine. When I checked the site, however, it still listed it at full price, but you have to add it to your cart to get the discounted price. Thanks for the link.

I wanna pick one up but am finding it difficult to narrow it down to a place that has them in stock, lol.

Being in my area, there's a fuckload of nerdy ass gays snappin up all the god damn touchpads.

I ordered a 16 GB Touchpad through Microcenter this morning and they gave me a confirmation order around 2:00 pm CDT only to cancel it 40 minutes later. However, I ordered a 32GB Touchpad through Brandsmart USA fro $149.00 plus shipping about two hours after I ordered through Microcenter, and that order went through. I haven't gotten any cancellation notices from them yet, so wish me luck.

728huey said:

I ordered a 16 GB Touchpad through Microcenter this morning and they gave me a confirmation order around 2:00 pm CDT only to cancel it 40 minutes later. However, I ordered a 32GB Touchpad through Brandsmart USA fro $149.00 plus shipping about two hours after I ordered through Microcenter, and that order went through. I haven't gotten any cancellation notices from them yet, so wish me luck.

Well, apparently I was too late cuz I don't see shit anywhere! If I do, I'll make sure I give you guys a heads up, though.

veronikka said:

Haven't had any luck getting a touchpad

Join the club.

Still keeping a lookout. I will mention something here when I find out anything.

I know some Best Buys were saying they were sending the stock back to HP (???). There was an article on Engadget about it. However, apparently they ARE going to sell them. It's very fucked up.

I also spoke with Amazon who says the price should cycle through their system soon.

Rest of the places I checked were all sold out, had no information, had MISinformation, etc.

Guys, head over to HP's small business portal. They are still selling them for the sale price and sales are going through. I just bought one, it debited me and everything. Go go go!

Spinlight said:

Guys, head over to HP's small business portal. They are still selling them for the sale price and sales are going through. I just bought one, it debited me and everything. Go go go!

I'm a little nervous about ordering from them; they may cancel my order. Then again, I'm hoping my earlier order from Brandsmart USA comes through.

728huey said:

Spinlight said:

Guys, head over to HP's small business portal. They are still selling them for the sale price and sales are going through. I just bought one, it debited me and everything. Go go go!

I'm a little nervous about ordering from them; they may cancel my order. Then again, I'm hoping my earlier order from Brandsmart USA comes through.

Well, they sure enough debited my card and I have an order confirmation email (whatever thats worth). Hopefully, the order won't be cancelled - I can't imagine why it would be.

Good luck with Brandsmart!!

For a 100 bucks the Touchpad is a good deal for what it is, but I wouldn't sweat missing out on one.

Like I said previously, there are millions of unsold Android tablets sitting gathering dust in shelves that MUST be liquidated before years end. There will be plenty of tabs on bargain bins for everyone this holiday season.

And with more apps, the Android tabs are a little more useful too.

Now, I don't know how many of these Android tabs that kids are going to find under their Christmas tree are getting returned to stores the following day in exchange for an iPad, but that's another story.

I just bought one from Amazon about five minutes ago for $99 plus tax and shipping. They were sold out earlier, but some of the resellers are now discounting the item, so its come and go and get one as soon as you see it.

Interestingly enough, this HP touchpad fire sale could be a serious blow to all other tablets on the market not named the Apple iPad.

http://www.pcworld.com/ar...itors.html

728huey said:

I just bought one from Amazon about five minutes ago for $99 plus tax and shipping. They were sold out earlier, but some of the resellers are now discounting the item, so its come and go and get one as soon as you see it.

Interestingly enough, this HP touchpad fire sale could be a serious blow to all other tablets on the market not named the Apple iPad.

http://www.pcworld.com/ar...itors.html

I bought something from Amazon this morning, and I still had this in my cart all the way up til I pressed submit for the final order, and it was still saying it was $400+.

Off to Amazon.....