09-01-2011, 03:25 PM
RAMd®d wrote:
You keep focusing on whether the TouchPad can displace the iPad or is even better.
Actually, I'm focusing on the belief that HP can't make the TouchPad you've described and sell it for a profit.
One more time, no one is saying that HP can make a profit on the TouchPad itself and they don't need to. The Playstation 3 took 5 years to make a profit on the hardware and the xbox finally turned a profit after 8 years or so. The point is they have the number two market and that is what is valuable. Owning that market is why they are re-evaluating their position.
RAMd®d wrote: And once a number of pieces of equipment hit a tipping point, then that market can sustain itself. But that isn't the point anymore.
I believe that's precisely the point. They have to reach that "tipping point" and they haven't.
You keep focusing on this TP for $100. It's number two position is mainly because of the fire sales. Since you mention that position, I'll say that it would barely be ahead of the rest of the tablets were it not for those fire sales. That's not a tipping point.
Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Those touchpads will reach people who will use them.
Again, I'm not focusing on the $100 tablet. Eventually that will end. I'm focusing on the marketshare. HP advertising revenue on TouchPad has already surpassed Android's and their app store sales have skyrocketed as well. Losing money on each tablet in order to bring more advertisers and more developers has made the webOS worth more than it was a month ago. Marketshare is the value.
RAMd®d wrote: And I can't believe you actually believe you had to type the obvious.
Well people kept typing it as if that was the only strategy HP had.
The tablet market is certainly big enough for several separate ecosystems.