News has spread like wildfire across the web that HP is clearing out their vast TouchPad inventory by slashing the price to an offer that is hard to refuse. Starting last Friday afternoon, the 16Gb TouchPad will be available for $99, and the 32Gb TouchPad will be $149. That is, until the stock runs out. And they’re going fast.
Why are they moving so quick? Because even people like me, a staunch tablet-denier (“What’ll I use it for?” being the common refrain), found that new price point to be irresistible. I ventured out in to the retail world early Saturday morning and picked one up (the 32 gig model for $149, in case you were wondering). Considering that reviews of the device were tepid to say the least, and that HP has now pulled the plug on WebOS development, I may end up regretting my purchase, but for now, it’s actually kind of fun. The browser is fast enough, it checks e-mail, it reads e-books, it surfs through Twitter feeds, and there’s even a handful of games available on the App Market.
So, for $150, it was an impulse buy that I probably won’t regret. It was a cheap way to see what all the fuss was about having a tablet computer in your life. But what about that dead-in-the-water OS? Here are 3 lessons that can be learned from this debacle about the mobile technology space:
1. The mobile market is far from stable.
The product that launched this new tablet market segment – the iPad – is only two years old. It has had phenomenal success, certainly, which certainly seems to suggest that the tablet form factor is one that can be functional and useful. That said, the marketplace has wquickly become flooded with a variety of mobile operating systems and a plethora of devices, all fighting for the same space. The problem with this approach is that if companies like Acer or RIM don’t see a return on investment in to this segment, they’ll cut ties and run, just like HP has with the TouchPad. That means uncertainty, which makes for market volatility.
2. Early user adoption defines the mobile landscape.
Android, iOS, WebOS, Blackberry OS, Windows Phone 7, even Windows 8 and OS X at this point. These platforms are in competition with one another, and each has a different philosophy when it comes to relationships with hardware vendors and software developers. But the one thing that HP just learned the hard way with WebOS is that without early user adoption, the developers won’t come, and if the developer’s don’t show up, your device is doomed. People don’t buy iPads just because of the slick commercials (though they certainly don’t hurt), they buy iPads because they already have iOS apps from their iPhone that they can port over. Developers don’t develop for iOS because Apple has the best policies for developer relations (they certainly do not), but because that’s where the users are.
3. Apple’s lead is not insurmountable.
It might seem odd to say this in the wake of the capitulation of one of Apple’s competitors in the mobile space, but just because Apple has the lead doesn’t mean they can hold it. And it is in HP’s failure that this becomes apparent: WebOS offers a better, more functional and user friendly UI scheme than Android Honeycomb or iOS for iPad. So why did it fail? You can blame lack of early adoption, but perhaps WebOS was simply caught in the crossfire of one CEO’s vision for transforming his company away from the “low margins” of consumer technology.
Of course, “low margin” is all in the eye of the beholder. Apple has become the world’s largest publicly traded company through offering these “low margin devices”, so take that phrase for what it really means: lack of vision. And it just that, vision, that will be needed to compete with Apple. WebOS could have been a real contender, with firm support from its parent company with significant investment in resources. The fact that WebOS was deemed a failure so early in its life is not a death sign for competing with Apple, just an indiciation for the kind of fortitude this market segment will take to compete effectively in. That kind of fortitude was no better demonstrated than by Apple’s chief competitor Google when they purchased Motorola’s Mobility division last week.
So, for now I’m going to enjoy my cheap tablet, and who knows? Maybe someone will port Android to it. At least I know that Google is in this game for the long haul.
If you’re looking for advice on whether or not you should pick up the Touchpad (if you can find it) for $99, here’s Tested.com’s take: http://www.tested.com/news/the-pros-and-cons-of-snagging-a-99-hp-touchpad/2769/
