HP’s TouchPad tablet: The reviews
Hewlett-Packard’s decision to enlist funnyman Russell Brand to promote its new TouchPad tablet in a series of online videos seems to have been the right one. People love the ads. Whether consumers will warm to the device itself remains to be seen, though.
HP pitches the TouchPad as a workhorse that’s a boon to productivity and a marvel of multitasking, but which can also hold its own as an entertainment device. The Wi-Fi enabled tablet, which hit U.S. shelves on July 1 (at $500 for 16 GB model, $600 for 32 GB), is up against some serious competition from Apple’s standard-bearing iPad models and a stable of well-regarded Android alternatives.
HP is smart to trumpet the TouchPad’s ability to play Web video and multimedia formats such as Adobe Flash, which Apple has refused to support on its devices despite demands from its own customers. But reviews of the 9.7-inch tablet, which runs on Palm’s webOS mobile software, could so far be characterized as tepid at best. Overall, they seem to suggest that while HP should be praised for some of the TouchPad’s features, it falls short on too many other crucial elements. Here’s a sampling of what’s been said so far:
Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal: “Despite its attractive and different user interface, this first version is simply no match for the iPad. It suffers from poor battery life, a paucity of apps and other deficits.”
Computerworld: “The TouchPad is caught in a no-man’s land for tablets. On the plus side, it supports full multitasking, plays Flash and has the best onscreen keyboard around, making typical tablet tasks easier. However, it’s also chunky, overweight and lacks the apps that are needed to compete with the iPad.”
Engadget: “The shortage of apps is a problem, no doubt, but that will change with time. What won’t change is the hardware, and there we’re left a little disappointed. Holding this in one hand and either an iPad 2 or a Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the other leaves you wondering why you’d ever be compelled to buy the HP when you could have the thinner, lighter alternative for the same money. Meanwhile, the performance left us occasionally wanting and, well, what is there to say.”
David Pogue, New York Times: “The WebOS is beautiful . . . It’s graphically coherent, elegant, fluid and satisfying. That, apparently, is the payoff when a single company designs both the hardware and the software.”
Palm Chief promises “hits” for HP
Six months after Hewlett-Packard announced it was buying smartphone pionners Palm for $1 billion, technology watchers are still waiting to see just what emerges from the high-profile marriage.
Palm chief Jon Rubinstein still isn’t tipping his hand on any details around smartphones and tablets that are due next year from the new HP unit. But he certainly made no effort to manage expectations on Tuesday at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco.
“It’s absolutely a hits business…We have several products that will clearly be hits when they come out,” said Rubinstein, who predicted “tremendous growth” in devices based on webOS, the Palm platform that HP acquired when it bought the company this year for roughly $1 billion.
“At the same time next year you’ll see us be in a very different position,” he said, saying there is still plenty of room in the fast-growing market for mobile connected devices
Rubinstein is of course famous as the man who developed Apple’s first iPod. But he started his career some 30 years ago, right out of college, at HP. Rubinstein acknowledged that by landing at Palm after leaving Apple, he is definitely off Steve Jobs’ Christmas list.
He also laid claim to Palm’s heritage in the smartphone space, which he said the company essentially helped create — with the Treo and other devices — before the iPhone.
HP buys Palm — who cares?
HP’s deal to buy Palm underlines the keenness of PC vendors to jump into the booming smartphone game, but will likely have very little impact on the smartphone market. HP has agreed to pay $1.2 billion for loss-making Palm, best known in recent years as the investment target of U2 lead singer Bono. The firm only sold 2.4 million smartphones in the last 12-month period, giving it just over 1 percent of the market.
In the last few years all top PC vendors — including Acer, Lenovo and Dell — have rushed to the surging smartphone market hoping to boost profits. So far only Apple has succeeded, and it has taken over two years for it to build up global phone distribution.
Top smartphone vendors Nokia, RIM and Apple boast much higher profit margins than PC vendors. HP’s gross margin for its most recent quarter was 22.8 percent, just half Research in Motion’s 45.7 percent margin, while Apple’s was 41.7 percent.
Helped by new features and cheaper prices the smartphone market grew through the recession, and is expected to jump a further 46 percent this year, according to researcher Gartner.
Analysts said the HP-Palm deal will likely have little impact on the global smartphone market any time soon, with vendors strong in the United States set to feel some pressure. “Does this change anything in the short term? I don’t think so,” said Carolina Milanesi from research firm Gartner. Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight, agreed. “I don’t think big phone manufacturers will be losing any sleep over this. We’re pretty sure they all did due diligence on Palm and decided they did not need the assets,” he said.
Analysis said the deal was set to worry HP’s closest rivals — Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo and others — who all aim to have a stake in the 1.2-billion-unit mobile phone market, especially with demand for handsets with PC-like features growing.
Correction – I wrote “if the smartphone industry alone is potentially a $1.2 billion market”…
Oops, I meant, if the market is potentially $100 billion, then just 5% would amount to $5 billion, which is a return on the investment.
Sorry for any confusion.
CES: Palm’s webOS could maybe work for a tablet but…
Since everybody else seems to be doing it, Palm chief Jon Rubinstein was asked if he might add tablets to the company’s line of smartphones based on webOS.
We were left us a little bit wiser, but not that much, after his response from the question from Kara Swisher of All Things Digital on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Rubinstein’s first reaction to the tablet question was this:
“We’re a very small company so we’ve limited resources and need to stay focused.”
But then he said:
“We’ve designed webOS to work on all kinds of mobile form factors.”
from DealZone:
Pricey Palm attracts attention
If you want to take a bite out of Apple’s piece of the staggeringly huge (but difficult to quantify in $$$ terms) smartphone market pie, you’d better either have the magical new “thing” or be willing to spend to buy it.
As Anupreeta Das reports, Palm – one of the stalwart originals in the mobile handset space -- has remade itself into a terrific target with the success of its Pre. Palm’s stock got a jolt this week on talk that Nokia could be considering a bid. But as she explains, Palm may prove to be too pricey a purchase, even for those with deep pockets.
Since introducing the Pre, Dell, Microsoft, Nokia and Motorola have been mentioned as possible suitors. If one of these cash-rich companies was to bid for Palm today, it would be targeting a stock that has quadrupled this year. Complicating matters, “details on how many units it has sold are skimpy, making it difficult to value the success of Palm's turnaround story,” she reports.
Palm's market capitalization is $2.4 billion. Based on the average 34 percent premium that technology, media and telecommunications companies have been sold for this year, according to Thomson Reuters data, this means a price tag of about $3.2 billion.
Dell is already in the early stages of buying up Perot Systems, but will still have nearly $7 billion in cash on hand should it choose to go on a spree. Microsoft, while a cagey customer, as shown in its dealings with Yahoo, has buckets more. For big tech players, the price itself is not the problem.
“To them, Palm is a thousand-dollar used model locomotive. Now you have to buy the other cars, and the tracks, and fake trees, etc. You have enough to pay for it, but you don’t even know if it works properly,” said a guy here at Reuters when the subject was being kicked around.
Apple cuts off Palm Pre sync (again)
It should probably come as no surprise, but Apple has again cut off iTunes syncing privileges for Palm’s Pre, the latest dig in their tit-for-tat over Palm’s smartphone. Apple’s newest version of iTunes, launched yesterday, disables the sync.
In July, Palm updated its webOS software to allow Pre users to sync the handset with iTunes, Apple’s ubiquitous media management software, where millions of people store their music and videos–after Apple had disabled such functionality in an earlier iTunes update.
At the time, Palm also complained to the USB Implementers Forum — which helps support and promote the USB interface – about the sync cutoff.
Apple’s unveiled iTunes 9 yesterday in a splashy media gathering that featured the return of Steve Jobs. It boasts plenty of new features but won’t sync for Pre users, at least for now.
Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said, “As we’ve said before, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.”
In an emailed statement, a Palm spokesman said: “Apple’s decision to disable Palm media sync again is yet another direct blow to its own iTunes customers who will be deprived of a seamless and familiar synchronization experience. That said, people have other options: They can always choose not to upgrade to iTunes 9 and continue to sync their music. The Pre has a second option for transferring music and other media content to the device and there are third-party applications that provide syncing functionality. Our view is that Palm media sync offers a great user experience and is an ideal way for customers who already use iTunes to manage music, photos and videos from their computer.”
Analysts question T-Mobile’s choice of myTouch over Hero
Some analysts worry that T-Mobile USA may have missed a trick by opting for a new Android device, myTouch 3G, which is mostly the same as HTC’s first one, the G, except for its slimmer shape and lack of a physical keyboard.
According to T-Mobile USA Chief Technology Officer Cole Brodman, the No. 4 U.S. carrier currently has no plans to sell Hero, another HTC phone that runs Google’s Android but has an updated user interface that looks similar in some ways to Palm Pre.
From today until July 28, T-Mobile USA customers can order the myTouch online with the potential to have their phones deliverd before its national launch stores on Aug. 5. Brodman says myTouch, with its nifty travel case, personalizable covers and T-Mobile recommendations for hot applictions, will appeal to a broader audience than G1. The idea is that myTouch’s sleek shape and Android’s straightforward user interface will encourage T-Mobile customers who had never bought a smartphone before to now consider this one.
“We think it’s a great opportunity to bring them into the smartphone space with a portable easy to use device,” said Brodman in an interview at a myTouch demo event. “It felt like the right choice for the target we were going after.”
Brodman also promised that T-Mobile USA will have more Android devices later this year. He would not give any hints about the vendor but said integration of mobile social networking could be a key feature in a future Android phone.
But Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart was not convinced by myTouch and questioned why T-Mobile chose it over Hero, which like Pre cleverly integrates social network services such as Facebook and it can operate multiple applications at the same time. “That’s just T-Mobile being shortsighted,” said Greengart who also worried about the myTouch’s $199 pricetag, which has to compete with a $99 iPhone that has twice as much memory. “You’re paying $50 to lose the keyboard,” said Greengart comparing it to the G1, which has a physcial keyboard and a $149 price tag. Brodman argues that T-Mobile USA customers would be able to make up the difference in a matter of months as its service fees are cheaper than those of AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier for iPhone.
The my touch is the same as the G1 phone.and I had to pay $199+18+599+34 for the same dam g1 with no key board.that’s not good.I order the phone before I got to play with it,and now I’m very mad. lovly
Dell and Palm – Who needs whom?
When Dell hired Motorola’s cell phone president Ron Garriques in 2007, the talk was that the PC giant was preparing to enter the smartphone market.
More than two years later, Dell is still without a handheld gadget.
Instead of trying to build its own smartphone, Dell should simply acquire Palm, said Collins Stewart analyst Ashok Kumar in a note to investors on Friday.
Kumar posits that a Dell acquisition of Palm would help both companies, giving Dell a hot new product in Palm’s recently-released Pre, while giving Palm the deep pockets necessary to hang with the big guys.
“This acquisition will be born out of mutual necessity and represent a strategic fit for both parties,” wrote Kumar in a note to investors.
Palm’s Pre has received good reviews, but there are concerns that Palm’s supply of the new gadgets may be constrained amid stiff competition from the likes of Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s Blackberry.
With only $260 million in cash, Palm doesn’t have the balance sheet to go through an extended period of cash burn as it ramps its production of Pre phones to the level necessary for it to become a force in the market, wrote Kumar.
For years buying Dell has meant a bit of a break for the corporate checkbook but generally spotty engineering and a bit too many calls to support. They’re no HP when it comes to design and quality. In fact, they’re no Palm, engineering-wise.A lot of consumers want “cheap.” But the bulk of serious consumers and business users want quality and performance. A brand they can depend on. HP has eclipsed Dell in sales and it’s always been better from an engineering standpoint.Palm builds great products and a top CEO. Palm/Dell would be a complete turn-off to consumers. Hopefully Jon Rubinstein sees the limitations of being Dell and looks for a suitor with an engineering name and culture more aligned with Palm’s.
iSuppli Breaks down the Palm Pre
We know that Palm built the Pre phone, but who made its guts and brains? According to research firm iSuppli that distinction goes to Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Sony, and Samsung Electronics Co, the leading component suppliers for the device. iSuppli cracked up the phone to see what’s going on inside.
Among the highlights:
* The Pre uses an advanced Low-Temperature Polysilicon LCD display. The display, made by Sony (although Palm may get such displays from others too) is a 16-million color LCD. * The touch screen controller chip is an integrated circuit from Cypress Semiconductor. * Its applications processor portion centers on TI’s OMAP3430 applications processor * Its wireless interface portion revolves around the Qualcomm MSM6801A baseband processor. * Elpida was identified as the supplier of its SDRAM. * Pre makes use of Samsung’s flash memory.
Andrew Rassweiler, director and principal analyst of iSuppli’s “teardown services” said Palm took a more expensive approach to build the Pre than other iPhone-like smartphones.
Most of the so-called “iPhone killers” iSuppli has torn down keep costs down by having one — and only one — core silicon asset. However, this approach burdens a single processor with multiple functions, degrading performance. This Pre’s two-pronged solution may be more costly, but should yield a superior-performing smart phone.
Businessweek estimated that Palm spent more than $140, and perhaps as much as $160, to build its new Pre smartphone. At retail. It sells for $199, after a $100 rebate.
I think they both need each other. Both companies markets have been challenging. Each could help with marketing and delivery of maybe some integrated system. Dell definitely has a low cost production model. Together maybe they can innovate and produce something to compete against the likes of Apple and Research in Motion.
When it comes to Apple, what’s a bargain? Its stock, maybe
The audience at Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ conference seemed pumped about the new high speed iPhone — and the price cuts. So, too, do everyday consumers, at least the ones I’ve spoken to. Bloggers? They also seemed pleased, for the most part. Silicon Alley Insider said that compared with the new iPhone, “the competition is nowhere in sight.”
But what about analysts and investors? After all, Apple is running a business here and whether the price cuts (and perhaps lower margins) and new iPhone features will make a difference in the bottom line is not to be overlooked.
Well, rest easy. Wall Street numbers crunchers had the same reaction as just about everyone else. J.P. Morgan in a note to clients raised its price target on Apple shares to $155 from $135; Barclays upped its target to $173; Caris raised its target to $170; Credit Suisse raised its taget to $165; and Susquehanna increased its target to $170.
See a pattern developing here? Apple, currently trading at $143, seems like a good deal to most of the financial community, despite that fact that shares are already up about 70 percent this year and Palm’s Pre looks as though it could present some stiff competition for the iPhone.
Here’s why, at least according to JP Morgan:
“In our view, Apple stands to be the lone early-cycle recovery stock in our coverage list. Factors include its market share gain potential in Mac and iPhone, as well as potential entry in new markets such as netbooks. Apple’s consumer exposure also could help, as we think enterprises will be more hesitant in increasing spending whenever the global downturn moderates.”
In other words, if you have faith in the analyst community, maybe you take some of the money you save with Apple’s price cuts and put it toward buying a little stock in the company.
no… it is not very hard to understand you need to have an attractive hardware with working operating system… it looks like HP forgot to make an attractive hardware… this is not pc business…