Hewlett Packard barely got it's foot in the tablet business and it is already conceding to the iPad. "On Thursday, HP announced that it would stop making tablets and smartphones powered by webOS, the operating system it acquired when it bought Palm last year for $1.2 billion." Does that mean that they are out entirely or simply retooling to come back later with a different tablet strategy? For now it seems to be a 2 horse race with Apple and Google; perhaps 3 if Microsoft is to be included.
Also interesting to note is that PC sales are down while Mac sales are up. This may be due to a couple of reasons. With the bad economy, consumers are keeping their computers longer and not buying the next model as frequently. It may be due to the Mac low market share which makes growth easier to achieve; and that as consumer get comfortable with their iPads and iPhones, they naturally gravitate to an Apple computer to better connect their devices.
Can HP get back into the game? Will the Google Android outshine the Apple? Will Microsoft emerge as a late entry but eventual winner. And what about tablets from Amazon and Barnes and Noble? Are tablets the ultimate tool or is a lightweight laptop the best of both worlds? The landscape continues to change at a maddening rate.
