Alternatives to iPad
- Thread starter haven
- Start date
Root Moose
Expedition Leader
I think what we are seeing is the gap between the leader and the also-rans widening. The also-rans need to go back to basics and get their house in order to move forward in a reasonable way.
This is probably what is partially driving HPs purchase of Palm. They want WebOS for their embedded devices since the full version of Win7 isn't cutting it (too cumbersome). I also expect that they see the writing on the wall with respect to not having the OS closely coupled with the hardware the way the Apple offerings are. Owning the OS lets them make the big decisions.
I'm not certain why HP aren't more involved with Windows Mobile. From what I remember the from the late 90s the old HP Journada[sp?] devices were pretty cool and they ran Windows Mobile. I haven't kept up with them so am not aware of what they are like now - if they even exist any more. Maybe they like the idea of being a fully integrated device shop.
As much as I am a pro-Apple guy I like to see competition to keep Apple on their toes.
The other thing we are seeing is the computer transitioning from a general purpose device to a special purpose device that is "good enough" for the vast majority of users. Public buy-in is high for this model. If the device does the basics (email, web, couple of simple office productivity apps) then most users will be happy. Does grandma care if her device can't compile the latest video codec plug-in for an open source web browsing application? No.
This is probably what is partially driving HPs purchase of Palm. They want WebOS for their embedded devices since the full version of Win7 isn't cutting it (too cumbersome). I also expect that they see the writing on the wall with respect to not having the OS closely coupled with the hardware the way the Apple offerings are. Owning the OS lets them make the big decisions.
I'm not certain why HP aren't more involved with Windows Mobile. From what I remember the from the late 90s the old HP Journada[sp?] devices were pretty cool and they ran Windows Mobile. I haven't kept up with them so am not aware of what they are like now - if they even exist any more. Maybe they like the idea of being a fully integrated device shop.
As much as I am a pro-Apple guy I like to see competition to keep Apple on their toes.
The other thing we are seeing is the computer transitioning from a general purpose device to a special purpose device that is "good enough" for the vast majority of users. Public buy-in is high for this model. If the device does the basics (email, web, couple of simple office productivity apps) then most users will be happy. Does grandma care if her device can't compile the latest video codec plug-in for an open source web browsing application? No.
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