Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 24th Feb 2013 17:26 UTC
"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:2005-11-29
There's cheap, and then there's unsustainable. It is fine for HP to have a low to mid range portfolio, but when low range means sub $200 it starts to get a little ridiculous. The price erosion going on is not likely healthy for anybody.
Its probably why Apple isn't participating, they decided they'd rather still make healthy margins on the iPad Mini rather than go dirt cheap.
Prices in this case are sticky-up and it will prove very difficult for HP and others to at some point in the future start extracting healthy margins.
Member since:2006-06-18
"Unsustainable" would be selling below cost.
There is a market for premium ($500+) devices that is currently dominated by Apple, ASUS (Transformer) and Samsung (Galaxy Tab). This market is mostly unaffected by the competition in the low-cost sector.
The Chinese white-box manufacturers are active in the market of sub-$150 devices, HP is unable to compete there and wisely does not even try.
But between these price points, there is a large market where HP can compete today, even if the margins are low. This market is just for shipping devices in volume. Once they are present in that market and have a brand, then they can start selling premium devices with the margins. Margins on premium devices will not go away as observed above.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
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!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
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.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
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."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
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.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
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.More Features »
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Member since:
2006-06-18
This is not how it works. If you want to enter some market, you need to provide better value than the competition until you can sell stuff via your brand. Producing innovative but high-priced stuff doesn't get you the necessary numbers.
The motivation for selling tablets is clear: the market for traditional PCs and Notebooks is shrinking, and tablets are growing and use many of the same distribution channels. If HP doesn't sell tablets, then it will fall behind its rivals. Like Lenovo which at MWC launched an extensive Android based assault on the tablet market.
This time though, HP does everything right:
- non-niche OS
- low price point
- mostly vanilla Android
- SD card slot
Especially the latter two you will find users asking for all the time when a new Android device is announced. HP probably won't make much profit (if at all) with this device, but that is not necessary at this point.