The day after the night before
“In short HP needs to hit the ball out of the park tonight”
So ended my previous post on my expectations of yesterdays WebOS Connect, so did it? Yes and no.
Ignoring the venue (Bar Music Hall, Shoreditch – which was great), I want to focus on what I wanted form the event, namely details of how HP is going to support developers and get its products to market.
What information we actually got was scant, I’m glad HP has heard the complaints/issues of developers:
- Lack of a universal App Catalog,
- difficulty in registering as a developer,
- Difficulty in getting devices to test applications
- Lack of Communication
These are not new issues and have been prevelent since day one.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, I understand that but what I wanted to hear was not ‘we have heard you’, I wanted ‘We’ve heard you and here are the details of how were working through the problem‘. An example is developer days, there are going to be more. Great, but when will they happen? HP wants to help with marketing, fantastic but how will it happen? For every announcement a curious lack of detail is evident. It would appear that I am not alone in these thoughts, as (anecdotal as it may be) other developers I spoke to at the event walked away with the same impression.
More concerning, was the lack of information for launch partners for the Veer, Pre 3 and TouchPad. It’s Stating the obvious but, the main way that people buy phones is on contract, as we know HP does not have a device that people can walk into a phone store and purchase on contract today. Specifics in this case were not required, as I’m sure that negotiations are still on going but a presence from any of the major mobile carriers would have offered some comfort.
Developing is a business, regardless of the ease of development if there are no devices available today and no details on when new products will be available, developers simply wont commit the money to build WebOS Apps.
And that’s the maddening thing, WebOS is an amazing mobile OS, it offers a clear concise ‘Apple’ like UI experience, innovative features such as Stacks and Just Type and true multitasking.
I want WebOS to succeed, I think that devices such as the TouchPad can really work in the education sector (I’ll blog about that topic later), but as a business case its still needs to prove itself.
6 responses to “The day after the night before”
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- - April 3, 2011
- - April 5, 2011
If not now, then when? 
Wish I could have been there. Thanks for this update (and good thoughts on what HP should be focusing on next).
Dont let the frankness of the post give you the wrong impression, It was a good event. just that theres a lot of detail still to be filled in.
don’t you think that maybe some things HP can’t answer right now. They cnt lay out there entire roadmap. That’s just not how it works
Agreed, but we are three months away from a major product launch, two months away from the veer and we have no details on carrier support, developer support etc.
HP can’t play the Apple game of silence until the launch, they dont have that power in the mind of the consumer. The TouchPad has no meaning to a consumer, iPad’s do, regardless if its a better product.
HP needs to detail the pathway to launch soon, as the longer it takes the less likely it will be able to attract developers.