In a weird twist of fate, the HP TouchPad has finally gotten the "buzz" it really needed to survive. Too bad it required HP killing the TouchPad to get so many people excited about webOS and the TouchPad. Since HP dropped the price of the TouchPad to $99 there were long lines at Best Buy, and every retailer seems to be sold out of the TouchPad. Office Depot was sold out in a matter of hours, or even minutes.
webOS traffic on the web is up. Our Palm site's traffic has been up, and blogs like PreCentral have said their traffic was through the roof.
What does this prove? It proves the price point of these non-iPad tablets is too high. People are willing to look beyond the iPad, but the price has to be right. Many companies have been pricing their tablets at the same price point as the iPad, thinking it would automatically downgrade their device in the consumer's mind if it was offered for less than the iPad. Think about it - you walk into a Best Buy and see a tablet for $200 right next to the $500 iPad. You would automatically assume the iPad was better right? That's the conventional wisdom which is why so many of these tablets are so expensive, but in the case of competing against an Apple product I think manufacturers need to think differently. Dropping the price of the TouchPad caused an immediate stir and brought webOS a much needed userbase. Even if HP would have taken a loss on the hardware, they could have squeezed a lot of money out of that userbase via commissions on apps. They simply had the wrong strategy in my opinion.
Oh well. All we can do now is hope someone either licenses webOS from HP, or buys it outright. Until then, HP has said they will offer more TouchPads for sale in a few days so if you weren't one of the lucky people to get your hands on a TouchPad, you may have another shot. Stay tuned.
webOS traffic on the web is up. Our Palm site's traffic has been up, and blogs like PreCentral have said their traffic was through the roof.
What does this prove? It proves the price point of these non-iPad tablets is too high. People are willing to look beyond the iPad, but the price has to be right. Many companies have been pricing their tablets at the same price point as the iPad, thinking it would automatically downgrade their device in the consumer's mind if it was offered for less than the iPad. Think about it - you walk into a Best Buy and see a tablet for $200 right next to the $500 iPad. You would automatically assume the iPad was better right? That's the conventional wisdom which is why so many of these tablets are so expensive, but in the case of competing against an Apple product I think manufacturers need to think differently. Dropping the price of the TouchPad caused an immediate stir and brought webOS a much needed userbase. Even if HP would have taken a loss on the hardware, they could have squeezed a lot of money out of that userbase via commissions on apps. They simply had the wrong strategy in my opinion.
Oh well. All we can do now is hope someone either licenses webOS from HP, or buys it outright. Until then, HP has said they will offer more TouchPads for sale in a few days so if you weren't one of the lucky people to get your hands on a TouchPad, you may have another shot. Stay tuned.
