“The sudden demise of Hewlett-Packard Co’s WebOS TouchPad after just seven weeks on shelves was a reminder of how tech giants have failed so far to take a bite out of Apple Inc’s iPad,” Liana B. Baker reports for Reuters.
“The TouchPad joins Dell Streak 5 in the tablet graveyard and weak sales for many offerings suggest others are bound to follow,” Baker reports. “‘The non-iPad tablets just won’t sell at retail. That’s the clear message from events over the past few days,’ said Mark Gerber, an analyst at Boston research and investment firm Detwiler Fenton.”
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“Other tablets that have failed to click with consumers include Asustek Computer Eee Pad Transformer and the Xoom from Motorola Mobility, which Google Inc. plans to buy,” Baker reports. “Research in Motion’s PlayBook received scathing reviews and sales have been slack, but it will probably survive since it is key to RIM’s strategy. ‘I do not expect RIM to be shutting down PlayBook sales any time soon or abandoning that platform, because RIM views it as its future,’ said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Financial in New York.”
MacDailyNews Take: RIM has no future. Getting swallowed up would be the same as pulling the plug on the PlayBook dud.
Baker reports, “Apple’s rivals have not fared any better in designing software for tablets.”
“All eyes are now on Google’s ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ system, which will unite the Android software used in tablets and smartphones. That is expected to encourage developers to flock to the platform and create better apps,” Baker reports. “Microsoft could also pose a threat when it releases its tablet software, code-named Windows 8, but this probably won’t be until the fall of 2012… Amazon.com, the maker of the popular Kindle e-reader, is also expected to announce plans to release a tablet this fall, providing a challenge to Apple.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hope springs eternal for tech masochists.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
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