"It's officially true: Hewlett-Packard is back in the mobile race. Today, HP is announcing its first Android product: the HP Slate 7. But it looks like the company won't be making a splash right away: Starting at $169.99, the new device will launch this April with a fairly unimpressive set of specs." As I've been working my behind off on a huge Palm article, HP turns around and slaps this thing in my face. You had one job, HP.
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Member since:2006-06-18
Member since:2005-11-29
Helping the tablet market further erode its prices doesn't really seem logical to HP given that they provide no value-add to the customer.
It could be argued that it's worth it to accept tiny margins and high volume if it meant subsidizing some kind of ecosystem. HP isn't doing any of that. They don't have any ulterior motive for being in tablets other than wanting a slice of the monetary pie. This works against that.
Tablets are moving into this super cheap, low profit territory that I'm not sure anyone but Google and maybe Amazon even want.
HP would be wise to carefully study the effects of what they're doing, given that these prices are more easily cut than raised. Good luck trying to charge a premium down the road when people realize that, wow, a $170 tablet is unsustainable.
HP sells no services in the vicinity needed to sustain this if it catches on. They're wasting their own time.
It is a very nice tablet though, I was surprised.
Member since:2007-01-13
Member since:2012-03-31
@leos: I don't think I was clear above. What I meant... when you have a big player enter the arena, other players may need to do more to differentiate their products. Instead of a keyboard dockable 8" tablet (with bells & whistles) at $600, we could see this mythical beast listed at $400. We might see two similar low-spec devices with the only difference being the aspect-ratio. It's a ripple effect.
Bargain basement shoppers will buy low-end from a more reputable source (with support) and those who shop by specs will have an increasing variety in the upper range as companies consider other market strategies.
This past Christmas, a cousin of mine refused to pay for Google's Nexus 7 ($200, Taxes, Shipping, faceless-entity, questionable support) or a Samsung 7" (about the same price last time I checked). He opted for a $129 Chinese knock-off (no google play) at a **local store** (local, walk-in support was his preference) - despite my strong warnings against the brand. My brother-in-law, who now hates his iPad, refused to consider the higher-end 10.1" Android tablets and I wasn't about to suggest a generic overseas brand. Price was his motivation after having felt burned by his Apple purchase and a name-brand with decent reviews was my motivation.
HP's entry changes the purchasing dynamics for consumers and strengthens the lower-end of the market in the short-term. In the long-term, if they continue to invest and other companies react, WE end up with better options throughout the entire spectrum of devices (low-end to high-end) from different and more reputable sources.
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Member since:
2005-09-21
Because if there's one thing we know it's that a race to the bottom with razor thin margins always lead to amazing products and lots of money spent on R&D.
Edited 2013-02-25 06:12 UTC