Hp Tablet;UK HP TouchPad tablet prices slashed as retailers look to shift stock

UK HP TouchPad tablet prices slashed as retailers look to shift stock:

Retailers across the UK have begun discounting HP's TouchPad tablet to shift stock following the announcement that HP is to concentrate its business around software and services.Amazon has already cut the price from £400 to £312, while Argos has reduced it to £349.99, as retailers look to offload stock after HP confirmed that it will not manufacture any more devices.V3 contacted Dixons Group, which includes PC World and Currys, to see whether the company is planning on price cuts, but had received no reply at the time of publication. The Dixons web site still offers the TouchPad at £429.99.US retailer Best Buy has cut the price to just $99 in an effort to shift a backlog of over 200,000 units, and offered refunds to customers who bought the TouchPad at full price.Due to HP's decision to discontinue its TouchPad product, Best Buy will now provide clearance pricing for all TouchPad 16GB and 32GB models regardless of previously advertised prices or promotions," the company said.Customers who purchased the 16GB or 32GB TouchPad after 19 June may come into the store to get either a full refund or a refund of the difference between the price they paid and the clearance price."The decision appears to have worked. Customers are flocking to the store to pick up the TouchPad for the equivalent of £60, and Best Buy reported that it has sold out of the tablet online.HP's move to quit the PC and webOS device market has not been so well received by the financial markets, however, and almost $16bn was wiped off the company's value on the stock market in reaction to Thursday's news.
HP also announced that is to acquire UK software firm Autonomy for $10.2bn to enhance its product portfolio as the firm shifts direction under the leadership of former SAP chief Léo Apotheker.

HpTablet:Why HP Is Killing Its Phone, Tablet Businesses

Why HP Is Killing Its Phone, Tablet Businesses:
Less than two months after launching what was supposed to be its answer to the iPad, HP shocked the tech world on Thursday with an announcement that it would stop producing tablet computers along with mobile phones, and that it is considering selling off its PC division.The bold change in strategy for the world’s largest computer maker signals a shift away from consumer electronics and toward developing software for large businesses, analysts said. The abrupt change in course comes only a year after HP made a billion dollar commitment to selling smartphones and tablets by acquiring Palm.HP also said that it intends to buy infrastructure software company Autonomy for almost $10 billion, further evidence of its new commitment to wooing large corporations, as it all but abandons its consumer business. HP CEO Leo Apotheker, who replaced Mark Hurd in 2010 after serving as chief executive of enterprise software firm SAP, said in an earnings call that he plans to “transform” HP to focus on the “enterprise information management space.”The news was particularly surprising given that HP is a household name with a strong track record building consumer electronics, yet is now stepping away from the fastest growing area of consumer electronics: mobile.
Analysts explain HP’s shift as a defacto surrender: a tacit admission that Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android mobile operating system have made unshakeable progress into consumers’ pockets that would take too much money and too much time to dislodge -- and would be an endeavor that might ultimately prove fruitless.

Autonomy

HP Kills TouchPad, Buys Autonomy:
Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest computer maker, today announced it is in talks to buy Autonomy, a business software maker, for about $10 billion and plans to spin off its personal-computer business, reports Bloomberg.Hewlett-Packard will discontinue its line of products running its WebOS operating system, including TouchPad tablets, the company said today.The company is considering paying a premium – some $10 billion – for Autonomy, people familiar with the matter said earlier. Autonomy’s main technology, ‘Intelligent Data Operating Layer‘ (IDOL), allows search and processing of text taken from database, audio, video or text files or streams.HP said that it will take a hit to fiscal 2011 earnings of $1.16 a share to $1.23 a share as it restructures and shuts down WebOS devices and related operations.There were signs that TouchPad sales were bleak, but a complete shutdown of WebOS operations was unexpected, notes C/Net.

Introducing Pivot

HP is very excited to unveil HP webOS Pivot, a revolution in app discovery and promotion. Featuring articles by leading authors that focus on apps in typical consumer use cases, readers will learn new ways to use your apps on their webOS devices in everyday life.Pivot is a monthly publication included in, and complementary to, the HP webOS App Catalog. You can think of it as another view of the App Catalog, but with editorial content. We will use Pivot to organize and curate apps, presenting them in a way that reflects how people live their lives and improve them with technology. We want to make the app purchasing experience informed, entertaining, and satisfying. Since Pivot is integrated with the App Catalog, readers will be able to purchase and download apps as they see them discussed.
For you, our developers, Pivot offers a wide selection of merchandising and promotional opportunities. Featured placement opportunities are editorially driven, providing Pivot the ability to show you apps within a variety of seasonal and topical themes.Our global team of app experts, editors, and writers will choose the themes and the apps to be featured. In addition, anyone can nominate an app to be featured in Pivot by submitting their nomination to pivot@hp.com. We're always looking for robust applications that show the unique capabilities of webOS, especially if they make good use of Synergy, Just Type, or Exhibition.
Pivot will publish initially for English, French, German, and Spanish languages and will be updated over the air directly to all HP TouchPad customers.We'll be giving you more details over the coming weeks, letting you know how you can have your app considered for inclusion in a future issue of Pivot. We look forward to featuring your fantastic webOS app!

Webos:It’s Official: HP Kills Off webOS Phones And The TouchPad

webOS was a proprietary mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel, initially developed by Palm, which was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard. Palm, HP, and most commentators and sources utilize the style "webOS", as shown in the adjacent logo, and in HP resources,\ rather than "WebOS".webOS was introduced by Palm in January 2009 as the successor to Palm OS with Web 2.0 technologies, open architecture, and multitasking capabilities.[citation needed] The first webOS device was the original Palm Pre, released on Sprint in June 2009. In 2010, HP acquired Palm; webOS was described as a key asset and motivation for the purchase.In February 2011, HP announced several new webOS devices, with various versions of the operating system, including the HP Veer and HP Pre 3 smartphones, running webOS 2.2, and the HP TouchPad, a tablet computer released in July 2011 that runs webOS 3.0. HP made the "difficult and, frankly, painful decision" that the Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, and their "Plus" revisions, would not receive over-the-air updates to webOS 2.0, despite a previous announcement of an upgrade "in coming months."In March 2011, HP announced plans for a version of webOS by the end of 2011 to run within the Microsoft Windows operating system, and to be installed on all HP desktop and notebook computers in 2012.On August 18, 2011, HP announced that it would discontinue production of all WebOS devices. It has also confirmed that all development and potential licensing for webOS will be terminated.
It’s Official: HP Kills Off webOS Phones And The TouchPad:
In the hours leading up to their Q3 conference call later today, HP has just confirmed that they will be discontinuing operations surrounding the TouchPad and all webOS phones.To quote their press release
HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devicesspecifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.This news will come as a rather huge punch to the gut for webOS die-hards (myself included, though you can’t say that we couldn’t see it coming), many of whom have stood by the product for years — first in hopes that Palm would eventually launch a device worthy of the rather fantastic operating system, and later in hopes that HP’s acquisition of Palm would be the spark to the fire that just never seemed to light.On the upside, webOS itself isn’t dead — at least, not just yet. HP’s wording up above leaves things a bit vague, with at least two potential routes left open: licensing webOS to others, and sticking webOS in other, non-phone/tablet devices (HP has already mentioned plans to put it in printers and cars.) Until further notice, however, it’s essentially dead in the water.