[darkzone]

man i hope Hurd meant something else by his comments i luv this phone 2 much....i dont want to move to android....

[Babadi]

I am not twisting or hoping. I've been in the tech business for over 20 years. I've seen this movie before. I have seen the alternate endings on the "Directors Cut" collectors edition. I'm not defending the statement by HP, but I am betting two things. This is sensational journalism out of context, and if this was intended by the CEO to say they don't care about webOS phones - he could never even have risen to become the CEO of a local PTA.

I think it's fine if we all e-mail him for clarification, but let's not panic and put words in his mouth. The quote I was responding to was doing both of those.

Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs must be laughing their heads off over the way this community over-reacts. I'm REALLY disappointed at the way PreCentral decided to report on this, as well. They are chasing away the users that are the very reason to exist. I am really saddened by this...

I'm just afraid that you're exactly the person he's referring to when he says it's not resonating. I really do hope you're right. But why would the CEO of HP come out and give current loyal customers a heart attack for no reason? I'll admit that something doesn't make sense 100% here. Statements conflict for sure. All we can do is hope for clarification. Terrible timing with the Evo around the corner though.

[HelloNNNewman]

it's amazing the amount of a ruckus one man's poorly worded statement can cause. It like being on a cruise and the captain asking for some ice for his tea and people jumping ship because they think an iceberg is coming. <sigh>

[dint56]

But anyway, I'd be shocked if he didn't mean "we didn't buy Palm just to be in the smartphone business."

He says later in the quote that he wants a similar look and feel across many different web-connected devices, and again, I'd be shocked if smartphones aren't one of those types of devices he's talking about.

I agree with you. But making statements like that unfortunately brings the motivation down for developers. I hope developers stills stay on and develop Applications

[Cantaffordit]

Okay, My Wife and I Just Bought a pair of Pres at Verizon.

We are approaching the end of our "30-day return period."

Overall, I'm very happy with WebOs and the Pre.

But, with Hurd's announcement, I'm wondering what the sentiment of the PreCentral Group is...

Should I:

A. Go to Verizon first thing tomorrow and return them Pres in favor of a Droid

or

B. Stay the course to wait for HP do clarify

or

C. Another option.



Interested in your opinions, but not smart enough to create a true poll.

Thanks.

HP didn't "announce" anything. HP is going to propagate webOS into a large ecosystem of mobile and connected devices.

If you like your phones, you should keep them. If an out of context quote is all it takes for you to not like your phone, the iPhone is for you. That's the safe bet.

[donm527]

ask yourselves everyone... if a captain asked says "ice for his tea," who is really going to mistaken it for "iceberg is coming"

ceo's do not mince their words and usually say what they want to say... if they backtrack later it is because they upset people and are just then trying to cover it up.

He said... quote... ""We didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business."

for those that answered they would jump ship from the captains statement... "bon voyage!" you deserve the trip your gonna get

it's amazing the amount of a ruckus one man's poorly worded statement can cause. It like being on a cruise and the captain asking for some ice for his tea and people jumping ship because they think an iceberg is coming. <sigh>

[ZombieElvis]

HP CEO Mark Hurd: "We Didn't Buy Palm To Be In The Smartphone Business"

"We didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business. And I tell people that, but it doesn't seem to resonate well."

It doesn't resonate well because right now 100% of all webOS users are smartphone users. That statement implies that HP intends to abandon all of us. Why should I buy an HP webOS tablet if HP already killed one webOS platform?

[donm527]

no it wont. if they take webos to tablet then the developers will develop for the tablet... may even bring more developers in actually.

I agree with you. But making statements like that unfortunately brings the motivation down for developers. I hope developers stills stay on and develop Applications

[fryedchikin]

Just a note to anyone on the fence about sticking with the Pre/Pixi or jumping to droid. The best thing at this point is to show our support for WebOS by putting our money where are mouths are. If we all start to jump ship we are only helping to sway any decision regarding future WebOS smartphones.

[Weaser999]

and Palm finally throws the white flag. It's been fun guys but I'm outie! EVO here I come!

Enjoy your 3-4 hour battery life. May as well just keep it plugged in 24-7

[Cantaffordit]

I'm just afraid that you're exactly the person he's referring to when he says it's not resonating. I really do hope you're right. But why would the CEO of HP come out and give current loyal customers a heart attack for no reason? I'll admit that something doesn't make sense 100% here. Statements conflict for sure. All we can do is hope for clarification. Terrible timing with the Evo around the corner though.

You are asking the right question "Why"". Do you think he woke up today and said "I think I'll give our user base a heart attack..." Or do you think any of those reporting this took the time to get a comment from HP or Palm, or to include context and statements from other interviews? You know the answer to both of those questions.

This guy is probably fast asleep with no idea of the tempest in a teapot that is happening in the community that represents Palm's largest asset. And after all that has been done to communicate to HP that they need to take the members of this forum seriously, and increase the love they show for the homebrew community... he sees this? His first thoughts in the morning aren't going to be "wow, what would I do without the great folks at PreCentral and more than 300,000 members they serve. Remind me to invite them to review our plans for the future, and send them a big thank-you for being such a source of good information..."

No, I think his response will be more like "WTH is wrong with those people?" I predict this will actually impact HP's stock price tomorrow. Instead of us helping one another, we have done harm to one another.

I'd hate to wake up in the morning to such a surprise as this. Now we know what politicians experience when journalists angle for sensational journalism.

I'm just sayin'

[Balzak]

This whole Palm Pre fiasco is going to be a great business case study from start to finish.

1. Put the Porsche engine in a Miata (for the gender issue people).
2. Claim its going to be the "Ferrari buster".
3. Sell it in an Smart Car dealership.
4. Sell the Miata for parts to GM.
5. Have the CEO disown the Miata and state publicly that they will put the Porsche engine into toasters....

[donm527]

it's not like palm hasnt done it before... didnt they abandon many of the palm pda purests and the old os for webos? some didnt follow but many did and they got new followers.

It doesn't resonate well because right now 100% of all webOS users are smartphone users. That statement implies that HP intends to abandon all of us. Why should I buy an HP webOS tablet if HP already killed one webOS platform?

[TheVTech]

Did anyone read the source article? It's clearly posted at the bottom.
HP CEO Mark Hurd talks datacenters, networking and Palm | ZDNet

After reading this, a smartphone is NOT in the business model at all as they are changing what HP does.

"Now that HP has made EDS more efficient, Hurd reckons he can do things “with R&D that we wanted to do from the beginning, but had to get the business to this state.” So now HP will consolidate its data centers for its services unit, standardize and automate, said Hurd. The effort will save money, but also give HP a more efficient platform to grow."

[wynand32]

My wife told me the other day that she didn't buy the lemon trees to make lemonade. I was really, really sad, because I love lemonade. And then she told me she's also making lemon pie, lemon cake, lemon cookies, lemon pepper chicken, and many other yummy lemon foods.

And then I was happy again.

[koolkid09]

My wife told me the other day that she didn't buy the lemon trees to make lemonade. I was really, really sad, because I love lemonade. And then she told me she's also making lemon pie, lemon cake, cookies, lemon pepper chicken, and many other yummy lemon foods.

And then I was happy again.

Aye, but you still didn't get the lemonade. The original thing you wanted. So every time you see the other lemon products, your gonna think to yourself that you want lemonade.

[HelloNNNewman]

ask yourselves everyone... if a captain asked says "ice for his tea," who is really going to mistaken it for "iceberg is coming"

ceo's do not mince their words and usually say what they want to say... if they backtrack later it is because they upset people and are just then trying to cover it up.

Don, I've worked around CEO's and the like in large corporations for many years. I've seen some incredibly dumb things said in interviews that have had to have 'clarifications' sent out the next day. One guy said (to a band of reporters) that they were closing 2 divisions within the company - when he meant they were consolidating one location into another to help space efficiency (they were even growing the division by 50 percent). One thing I've come to learn is that the majority of these guys are in their positions because of their ability to handle investors...not their ability to speak well, or even think first.

[Cantaffordit]

It doesn't resonate well because right now 100% of all webOS users are smartphone users. That statement implies that HP intends to abandon all of us. Why should I buy an HP webOS tablet if HP already killed one webOS platform?

It implies nothing of the sort. Do you think that Mac owners are jumping ship now that the iPad is outselling the Macbook Pro? You can certainly argue that Apple is focused mostly on iPhone and iPad. There hasn't been a significant new development on the Mac or OSX platform in awhile. Should they all jump ship? No, every new iPad or iPhone user becomes a candidate for OSX hardware, too.

This guy clearly talked about a range of products that all look and work the same. Does that sound like he will kill phones to that printers can run webOS in isolation? Or does it sound like the mobile market is enjoying explosive growth, with about 90% of that growth in future years, and a market that will segment into many form factors for many different uses. And to play in that space for consumers and business alike, people can't think of those markets in a vacuum, but as part of an ecosystem that has unlimited potential. Potential that can only be addressed by someone with a platform that can deliver the products to address the full range of needs in that market. Three companies have such a platform. Apple, Google, and HP.

This is starting to sound like presidential politics...

[sjsharksfan]

too much panicking

[donm527]

so have i... actually dealing with product development and support for Compaq in the days of iPaq and IBM in the days of Thinkpad and part of what gets designed, what gets released and what gets axed. Your right about CEO... but in my experience... They blurt out the dumbest things... but they are also saying exactly what they mean when they do.

Don, I've worked around CEO's and the like in large corporations for many years. I've seen some incredibly dumb things said in interviews that have had to have 'clarifications' sent out the next day. One thing I've come to learn is that the majority of these guys are in their positions because of their ability to handle investors...not their ability to speak well, or even think first.