HP Palm WebOS Event Open Thread

2. HP wants to leave behind the old Palm-branded devices

3. HP has to deal with the various carrier certifications for OS updates

4. The amount of unbranded, non-carrier-tied unlocked WebOS devices worldwide is relatively small...I would not at all be surprised to see these devices get left out of the OS upgrade process entirely.

5. If they drag it out long enough, all of the original WebOS device owners will have totally expired 2yr contracts or be at the 12-18month annivesary of their 2yr contract signing and be eligible for a subsidized upgrade. They will of course then try to get all of those people to just buy a new device entirely.

6. The original Pre and Pre Plus were so shoddily made (from a hardware standpoint) that these devices are probably all in various states of decrepitide with many units failing daily. If tHP can drag out the process long enough, there will be hardly any WebOS 1.x devices LEFT in the field to warrant a costly upgrade development/testing/rollout process.
Also, the Pixi's weak hardware might make WebOS 2.x just unfeasible from a performance standpoint, and a lot of those users have probably gotten frustrated with the lack of wi-fi, under-sized RAM and weak CPU/screen.

For a similar example, just look at the huge numbers of Android devices that are still launching with OS versions that are several generations behind and will never see an update from the manufacturer. Apple's iOS update schedule for their iPhones & iPod Touches is quite solid---you pretty much are guaranteed exactly 2years (or a bit more or a bit less, depending on generation) of solid updates from when your particular model was launched and then they immediately EOL that line. HP/Palm could gain a lot of goodwill by committing to getting every single old WebOS device onto 2.x in some way, shape, or form.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid + Verizon Palm Centro-> Verizon Moto Droid X + Palm TX

Maybe they felt they had to take the shot to have the lead time to woo developers.

But after what Apotheker said the other week, I really expected the TouchPad to be in stores *next month*.

"Ok a little perspective here. For quite a few years now these little devices have been with me everywhere I go. They've saved my bacon on more than one occasion and have the outline of my life. My contacts contain my associates and friends, my calendar shows the outline of days gone by and days to come, my notes contain simple thoughts to grand ideas, and it even holds pictures that tell thousands of stories. These little devices have been indispensable for some and almost like a friend to others. Though it is simply an electronics device devoid of thought and personality it has over the years been the bearer of so much information about who we are and who we want to be. With the above thoughts in mind it is no wonder we've become attached to the way we view this information. Many of us feel a loyalty to Palm and expect a certain amount of mutual respect and trust when it comes to our devices design. I have a feeling many of us feel they have betrayed and feel that trust has been abused. This is why many of us are so vocal. Perspective is a necessary vision and change is always good, but can be unpleasant at times, but this is only an electronics device. We'll still be the same people with the same plans, associates, and friends whether this device is a dud or not." - superdork

"I've got about 450 (Contacts). I could probably delete 50 without much thought. But one of the advantages of keeping this kind of data in a database is the historical perspective. Just because I don't contact someone today, doesn't mean I won't want to look them up next month, or next year. The ability to answer questions like "Who was that guy I talked to about the wireless security software last year?" or "What was the number of that good looking soccer mom from my son's team last spring?" can be invaluable, even if I haven't talked to the person recently." - meyerweb

Android has taken over the market strategy that originally allowed Microsoft to unseat Palm as the leader in smartphones: offering a broad variety of available hardware for almost every taste, in order to out-compete a "one size fits all whether you like it or not" design.

In essence, the Apple versus Google fight is a new and updated version of the old Palm versus Microsoft fight. You have the "in" device, whose manufacturer has very stiff and stubborn ideas on how to design and sell, versus the massive cloud of less popular devices, but ones that can fill every niche.

Of course the analogy breaks down because Apple is about a dozen times better at market-savvy than Palm ever was. Of course, Android is a much better platform on the whole than Windows Mobile was, particularly the touchscreen versions.

But whatever way you slice it, I'm not sure how Microsoft expects to break back into the market. First, they're starting with the problems of a completely new platform, in an already saturated and cut-throat environment. What advantages does WP7 offer against Android or iPhone?

Second, with the platform break they effectively told their entire installed base and all their developers--who might have held with them long enough for Microsoft to catch up to the other two platforms--to go take a flying leap.

Last but not least, as much as they gradually evolved and tweaked their way into the top spot a few years ago, Microsoft has a habit of missing what could be golden opportunities. The value of a fast, easy way to download and install applications from a mobile device has been obvious since way back when PocketPCs having WiFi was a big deal. I remember wishing for just such a thing back as early as 2003-2004, and it should have been even more evident around 2005-2006 when devices started getting more untethered via cellular.

Being the first to have a wireless app library could have put Microsoft in the driver's seat earlier, and considerably blunted the impact of the iPhone on their market. But they missed that one. And I have a feeling they'll miss the next one too, unless they get their thinking considerably more outside the box than they have.

https://developer.amazon.com/welcome.html?pid=DNL-appstore-021111
Tech Center Labs
www.talestuff.com
www.iTalentProductions.com

It's annoying, because I really miss the Droid Pro.

hkk, I definitely agree with you that the Marketplace needs to be cleaned up more. What's most desperately needed is sub-categories and filtering options. Something to let you ignore the fluff like live wallpapers, ringtones, etcetera.

Yes, there's those who game the system, but frankly that happened at places like Handango and PocketGear too.

http://consumerist.com/2007/02/sprint-will-cancel-service-for-cdma-customers-who-roamed-50.html

There's no native Sprint coverage within 10 miles of me, according to their maps.

Besides which, the Droid Pro appeals more to me than most of the models I've seen available on Sprint, and far more than anything that AT&T has.

Part of the reason I'm fond of the Droid Pro is the single-piece design--I require a keyboard, but I find that I tend to be fickle about sliding keyboards. The only one that I ever found to be a real joy to use was the Samsung i760. Some of the others I've dealt with have been acceptable, but flavorless.

The Droid Pro also has nice touches that I'm not sure if they're replicated on some of the other models, like the lighted USB port.

Something that the Epic has which the Droid Pro didn't, and something I really like, is the availability of directional buttons. Without them it would be hard to do some things requiring precision.

The Droid 2 Global looks interesting, and between the internal memory and my existing cards I wouldn't be any worse off for storage than with the Epic, but the keyboard would make or break it.