Wondering why almost every major PC maker has announced plans to bring a tablet computer to market soon? It’s not just because it’s an emerging product category representing a huge source of untapped revenue. It’s also because companies fear that if they don’t have a tablet to offer, they’ll lose money since tablet computers may be eating into notebook sales.
Speaking to analysts yesterday, HP exec Todd Bradley said that sales of tablets from rival companies (read: the Apple iPad) have likely affected notebook sales.
Of course, HP isn’t offering any hard numbers to prove that tablets are really to blame. And it’s perfectly possible that the reason notebook sales are slowing is because the market for netbooks — a huge growth area over the past few years — is saturated, as I suggested a few days ago.
But HP is hedging its bets. The company is expected to launch a Windows slate PC by the end of the year, with a WebOS tablet on track for early 2011.
If HP had not put their Windows based tablet on the back burner for so long it would be on the market by now and probably selling.
Now it is catch-up time and they are a day late and a dollar short. To add insult to injury their WebOS tablet is being released after the Holiday shopping season and during the Income Tax season.
Absolutely Brilliant who ever decided on this release time frame should be fired.
I don’t/can’t feel sorry for HP since it is their own fault. I have my HP dv8 notebook and love it, but want a HP Windows based tablet to compliment it.
Why? Because “tablets” are so popular? They’re not.