HP gets out of PC, TouchPad and WebOS Business - Apple iPad's victim A long Time Ago in Mexico

In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves

For a bright manhood, there is no such word

As – Fail!

Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu, III, 1

Hewlett Packard’s CEO Leo Apotheker has decided that it’s time to get HP out of the kitchen. HP is now officially out of the PC business and is shutting down development of their Tablet, the HP TouchPad as stated in the article “HP halts WebOS business, spins off PC unit”, published AUGUST 18, 2011 12:16 PM PDT By Larry Dignan, CNET News - Business Tech and the article “HP announces it will discontinue webOS development”, published AUGUST 18, 2011 by CALEB GARLING, DigitalTrends.

Effectively, HP is the Apple iPad’s first victims in this the “post-PC” era as CEO Steve Jobs had prognosticated and I had recorded in my blog article entitled “Apple iPad 2 and PC future - Doomsday in the Battlefield” and my Geezam blog article entitled “Are we witnessing Laptop and PC Extinction?”.

The Statement from HP’s CEO Leo Apotheker puts it all into perspective, quote: “Transformation can involve difficult decisions, but we take these steps to better position for the future. These challenges and the transformation we are undertaking will take several quarters to fully resolve. I don't take this action lightly. I know our investors don't like being in this position and neither do I. I feel that as CEO I believe in transparency about what we are facing and be clear under the size of things we are doing now about it. To conclude, I'm taking ownership for these decisions and investments with a focus on driving actions that deliver value for shareholders as we shape the new HP.”

Simply put, no more PC's Tablets or smartphones running Web OS as I had so wistfully chronicled in my blog article entitled “HP and the TouchPad - Book of Revelations and The Spy Who Shagged Me” as HP restructures after disappointing sales of the WebOS powered TouchPad, which had been Electrical Engineer Jon Rubenstein’s brainchild, a former Apple Executive in charge of Engineering.

This after a poor showing in the market, with a US$50 price discount prior to this announcement on Monday August 8^th 2011AD as stated in the article “HP offers $50 credit to TouchPad early adopters”, published AUGUST 8, 2011 9:04 AM PDT By Don Reisinger, CNET News - THE DIGITAL HOME.

This throws my predictions out the window as it relates to WebOS tablets being tops in 2015AD as stated in my blog article entitled “Nokia + Microsoft vs HP Web OS - Gartner's Ocean's Eleven Plan to Rob the Casino”. Worse, the Open Source revolution on soon-to-be-extinct PC’s is now a one horse race with Dell and its support for Canonical’s Ubuntu as stated in my Geezam blog article entitled “HP and Web OS – 2011 is the Year of the Linux on PC”.

Guess they had failed to take my advice about ramping up developer support as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple iPad vs Huawei MediaPad & HP TouchPad - Hackers say this is As Good as it Gets” and my Geezam blog article entitled “HP and the TouchPad – Release the WebOS and the Developers will Smile”.

Apple had one less company to sue over patent infringement as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple blocks Samsung Galaxy Tab in EU - Dancehall Hero's Revenge of the Sith”,  seeing as HP is going out of the PC smartphone and Tablet business altogether.

HP originally got into the Tablet business via purchasing Palm in April 2010AD for US$1.2 billion as the history in the article “Palm Largely Dead as HP Shuts Phone, Tablet Unit”, published August 19, 2011 By RACHEL METZ ABC News and the article “HP Says 'So Long' to WebOS Devices”, published August 18, 2011 2:32 pm By Ginny Mies and Jared Newman, PCWorld.   

HP has now killed Palm a second time, after RIM had pushed them out of the PDA (Personal Data Assistant) market in the late 90’s. They have effectively given up on WebOS as stated in the article “Hewlett-Packard gives up on webOS”, published August 18, 2011, 12:50pm PT By Ryan Kim, GigaOM, after the failures of the Palm Pre and Palm Pixii in 2009AD.

HP’s problems with the Touchpad were as thus:

1. Market pressures from competitor
2. Poor marketing on the Retail side
3. Less than stellar hardware design
4. A SERIOUS lack of developer support

This led to the demise of the WebOS side of the business, the first victim of the Apple iPad as stated in the article “TouchPad is the iPad’s First Victim, But Likely Not The Last”, published AUGUST 18, 2011 By Chris Taylor, Mashable, as many thought WebOS would have been spared the axe.

That may still be the case after all though.

HP possibly has plans to license the WebOS Platforms in other devices aside from tablets as stated in the article “HP planning to bring WebOS to appliances, cars?”, published AUGUST 16, 2011 9:40 AM PDT By Don Reisinger, CNET News - The Digital Home. So WebOS is solid, just not what it’s running on, a rather fair assessment.

Truly, the Tablet Wars has seen its first casualty in a Tablet market dominated by the Apple iPad and Google Android Tablets as stated in my blog article entitled “Android Tablets Marketshare gain over the Apple iPad - Clear and Present Danger” and my Geezam blog article entitled “Android Tablets gain on the Apple iPad – Here Comes the Hot Steppa”.

Apple’s first victim Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) Style!