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HP shipped 200000 Touchpad units to dealers. In those 49 days only 25000 TouchPads were sold, leaving a huge inventory of unsold goods. The results were so bad HP completely killed its tablet PC program. It is amazing what can happen in 49 days. ...
Apple's iOS genesis began as an operating system for a phone and a digital media player. As far as the world thought back then, this meant a greatly limited mobile OS for texting, phone calls, plus a little extra to handle audio/video playback. We now know that it was part of an inspired several-step process to not only foist a brand new PC OS to the marketplace, but do what no other OS has achieved since the dominant rise of Microsoft Windows. That is to successfully grab significant PC market share.
Part two of this plan was the introduction of the Apple App store in July of 2008, which elevated the iPhone and iPod touch into mini-PCs and portable game systems. It is part three that is the most important part. That was the refining of the iOS operating system within these two "limited" devices. As the demand for applications exploded the capabilities of iOS was pushed. Apple responded and iOS evolved.
Two years later, in April 2010, Apple introduced the iPad; part four of the plan. A tablet PC that, while still limited when compared against a Windows PC, possessed an OS that already had two years of hands-on consumer refinement. That and over half-a-million applications to run on it.
Tablet PCs had been around for decades with out gaining much traction. Even the mighty Microsoft, which had a tablet version of Windows a decade before the introduction of the iPad, was never able to elevate the tablet to anything more than a niche product. Apple ignited that market. Its opening month iPad sales blew away all tablet PC sales the previous year. Caught flatfoot the leading laptop makers, realizing the threat of Apple in the portable PC market, had no choice but to rush out competing tablets.
Rush is a key word here. Where Apple had the leisure of three years testing of both device and OS under the disguise of a phone, the likes of HP, Dell, RIM, Sony, Acer did not. Furthermore, while all these makers are fully capable of getting the solder and chips part of production right, the OS was another story.
Apple does not share its OS with anyone. This meant the leading PC manufacturers had to look elsewhere and the choices were not perfect. The great majority of PC makers passed on the Windows tablet OS, which says a lot about its competitiveness in this market. Most turned to Google's Android. HP acquired Palm's webOS for its TouchPad and RIM utilized its own Blackberry Tablet OS for its Playbook line. All of these operating systems are playing catch up to iOS in terms of tablet performance.
This doesn't mean iOS is perfect, ask anyone who wants true multitasking capabilities. But iOS is much farther along on the refinement curve and that makes the performance of the iPad all the more compelling to the average user. The mixed reviews given the first round of iPad competitors illustrate the growing pains in a brutal tablet war that didn't even exist a little over a year ago.
The announcement that HP has axed the Touchpad after only 49 days on the market shows how devastating the poor reviews have been for half-baked tablets. HP saw the writing on the wall immediately after the release of the iPad. With the expectation that a seismic shift in the mobile PC market from laptop to tablet was inevitable, HP readied itself for the shift and acquired Palm's webOS as the backbone of its own tablet strategy.
Unfortunately, HP's first product was a dud and word got out quick, killing enthusiasm for the release. HP shipped 200,000 Touchpad units to dealers. In those 49 days only 25,000 TouchPads were sold, leaving a huge inventory of unsold goods. The results were so bad HP completely killed its tablet PC program.
It is amazing what can happen in 49 days. With nowhere to go the world's largest PC maker is now selling off its PC line altogether. A dramatic corporate decision made on the sales of a single new product out less than than two months. As I said, devastating.
It doesn't have to be that way, of course. Consumer Reports' September 2011 issue reviews seventeen tablet PCs and while the iPad tops the list the best Android 3.1 tablets, the Samsung Galaxy and the Motorola Xoom, were not that far behind. Still, Motorola Xoom sales look no better than the TouchPad's, despite the love affair many tech-boys have with Android. In a recent survey by Robert Baird co. measuring consumer interest in tablet PC brands (see graphic below) none of the iPod competitors scored well in the public consciousness. That the HP Touchpad scored the highest after the iPad with a modest 10.4% recognition suggest more makers will drop out once we drive into the holiday season.
All of this bodes just as badly for Microsoft, which must now wait until next year to get into the game. That's when Windows 8 is rumored to be released. Next year might be too late, even if Microsoft's new tablet OS is superior. Then again, maybe Microsoft already learned a lesson from its failed Kin and Zune efforts and use the extra time make sure Windows 8 will be good enough to mount a genuine challenge to iOS.