Will Hewlett Packard's TouchPad miss the boat?
Hewlett Packard has unveiled its new tablet computer the TouchPad- looking a lot like Apple's iPad - at a press event in San Francisco.
The new tablet, based on Palm's webOS software, has a number of features which have impressed tech writers - including one that will allow it to sync information with webOS phones by merely touching them together.
But disappointingly, HP says the TouchPad won't be available until the summer- and then only the Wi-Fi version. Versions connecting to the Internet over the 3G and 4G networks, will be "later."
Troy Wolverton of the San Jose Mercury News writes, " That's terrible news for webOS fans. Because by the time the TouchPad comes out, it's going to have a hard time finding a market."
Despite Apple's iPad dominance since its launch last April, "there has been plenty of room in the market for a capable, non-iPad tablet," he says. If HP and Palm had put the TouchPad out last autumn, it wold have sold really well. .
"But the window of opportunity is closing fast. Motorola is expected to launch its Xoom tablet any day now. Research In Motion is expected to launch its PlayBook tablet by April."
Apple is also expected to start selling an iPad 2 by April.
Many new tablets will have features similar to the TouchPad. The Xoom and PlayBook, for example, will have fast dual-core processors - like the TouchPad. The Xoom and PlayBook (and probably the iPad 2) -will allow users to place video calls using front-facing cameras - like the TouchPad.
Wolverton comments:"When Hewlett-Packard bought Palm last year, HP hoped its size and scale would revive Palm's mobile business and take it to the next level. Instead, it looks as though HP is going to repeat Palm's mistakes.
"You see, no matter how innovative you are or how big, you can't succeed if you don't execute. And HP doesn't appear to be doing that any better than Palm did."