It's been almost a year since HP bought Palm (and its much-praised but market-share challenged) webOS operating system, and everyone's been wondering what the tech giant is going to do with its shiny new toy. Today, the company gave a packed house in San Francisco a glimpse of its new Touchpad tablet, along with a pair of new mobile phones running on webOS.
While attendees weren't allowed to actually touch the Touchpad, we did get a pretty close look at it. And I have to say, I was impressed with many aspects of the device, especially for small business users.
In many -- good -- respects, the Touchpad resembles Apple's iPad, from its 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 screen to its 1.5-pound weight and 13.5mm thickness and almost identical list of accessories. And webOS itself bears many similarities to Apple's iOS. But HP also tossed in some unique features of its own -- some already existing in webOS devices and others new to the Touchpad.
For one thing, performance should be snappy with a fast dual-core Snapdragon 8060 processor running at 1.2 GHz -- significantly faster than the iPad. And the Touchpad has 1.3 megapixel Webcam for video conferencing (HP says its working with Skype to embed the capability in multiple apps). Other neat tricks inlcude webOS' Synergy feature that automatically integrates all your contact info from multiple sources -- from Facebook to Microsoft Exchange. There's also universal search of the device, your social networks, and the Web. But the most impressive was the "touch-to-share" feature that uses Touchstone technology to let users simply touch together two webOS devices (the company also announced new Pre3 and Veer webOS smartphones) to swap information, websites, or even phone calls in progress.
Small business users will find other things to like:
- A full virtual keyboard, complete with a row of number keys on the top.
- Built-in support for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
- Wireless printing to almost all recent networked printers.
- Support for Google Docs, Dropbox, and Box.net for sharing.
- Enhanced e-mail and calendar capabilities, including integration of multiple email accounts and easier ways to select (and delete) multiple e-mail messages.
- A bundled version of QuickOffice for viewing and editing Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents.
- A magnetic micro-USB port for connection and charging.
While I was impressed in many ways, I'm still not quite sure where HP is going with all this. The launch event made much of HP being "first," but it's hard to see how the Touchpad qualifies for that title. The company says it hopes to use webOS as part of a strategy to tie together all kinds of devices and mobile services, but the Touchpad's coolest features require other HP webOS devices. And although HP is a very big company, it still may not be big enough to make webOS a success all by itself. Apple has decades of experience going it alone, and Android seems to sign up new vendors almost daily. HP trotted out content partners ranging from Dreamworks Animation to Time Inc. but Android and especially Apple have huge leads in the number and variety of available apps. Sure, the Touchpad will run Kindle, but that's only beginning of making it useful.
And there are other disturbing signs. For one thing, HP didn't say a word about the all-important issue of battery life -- and that fast processor could gobble juice awfully quickly. Second, the Touchpad case is made of shiny black plastic, not aluminum. You have to question its durability and luxe appeal.
And you have to worry that the Touchpad may simply be too little, too late. While one HP PR person I spoke to predicted a June release, the official word is "summer." And that's only for the Wi-Fi models -- 3G and 4G versions won't come until come later this year. And if it's late, well let's just say the rest of market isn't standing still. A new iPad is widely expected this spring, and we could see multiple Android 3.0 tablets by summer.
Given all that, it's perhaps most telling that HP didn't say anything about pricing. If the Touchpad undercuts the iPad, it could make a splash. If its a premium-priced spread, that's another story.
Finally, despite the lip service being paid to business users, success in this market depends on being perceived as cool... not a traditional HP strength. And HP may be getting in over its head in that regard: the company's new marketing campaign uses an instrumental version of Lou Reed's iconic but 39-year-old hit Take A Walk On The Wild Side. It's a good thing they went instrumental, since the song's lyrics remain NSFW.
