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02/10/2011, 04:29 PM
#1
To the Board of Directors,
Yesterdays announcements at the HP Think Beyond Event were ground-breaking and long awaited by the WebOS community. There was, however, a tragic turn of events that I want all of you to be aware of that may cause the complete failure of WebOS and your entire WebOS product line.
I, like many WebOS users, bought Palm devices before HP acquired the product line. We bought these products with certain expectations and understandings. One being that at some point in the future our devices would be able to access Flash content on the internet, another being that our devices would have access to Over-the-air (OTA) OS upgrades for the life of the product. These two expectations were tragically and underhandedly dismissed yesterday.
The Think Beyond Event was a lot of great information and fanfare about products that are not yet available in the consumer market, with no information about actual timelines for release or cost. I understand the realities of needing to have product visibility to garner media and consumer coverage. In the midst of making these long overdue product announcements your company tried to hide the fact that all current products available in the U.S., the products that form the overwhelming majority of your mobile phone inventory and customers, will no longer be getting WebOS updates to the most current version. This effectively rescinds the promises made by Palm for providing Flash compatibility to our devices and by HP to provide WebOS 2.X to all existing devices.
Please take the time to read the forums on PreCentral.net and WebOSworld.com to get some idea of the level of outrage this has caused. You have already lost a significant number of your existing customers to your competitors and are poised to lose almost all of them before you can release a single new product using WebOS. A large number of developers, who have made WebOS better and been vocal supporters of WebOS and HP, have as a result of this decision already moved on to developing for your competition’s products. The lack of upgrading current users to have access to Flash content and WebOS 2.X has effectively eliminated the customer base for developers. While WebOS 2.X will run code written in MOJO WebOS 1.4.X will not run code written in ENYO. No customer is going to spend money on software for their WebOS device that will never be able to run the newest version. No developer will write software for products that are no longer being supported by the manufacturer when there is no possible economic gain. A few developers may wait out the months waiting for Veer, Pre 3, and Touchpad to become available, but only if they are making money elsewhere and only if they have access to ENYO, which only early access developers have, and it becomes something more than an early Alpha stage development tool.
You had an extremely loyal and knowledgeable customer base; customers that were actively educating users of competing products on the virtues of WebOS and the dedication of the developer community and the developers who were vocally and actively supporting and defending HP and WebOS. While we may only be two percent of the market share, we’re your two percent. Without your current customers how do you expect to attract new customers and developers to your products?
There are a number of ways for HP to remedy this tragic turn of events. At the very least, all existing Pre, Pre Plus, Pixi, and Pixi Plus users should be upgraded to a new HP Pre 2 at no cost as soon as logistically possible. Additionally, HP should communicate to the carriers that this is an HP upgrade and that it should in no way effect the customer’s carrier upgrade eligibility date or their current usage plan. Once the new HP Veer, Pre 3, and Touchpad are available current customers should be afforded the opportunity to upgrade to one of these devices through their carrier during their normal upgrade cycle at no cost.
These measures are in necessary to keep the small market share you currently enjoy and will also be a fantastic way to demonstrate to future customers that when unforeseeable events overcome expectations and promises made to customers, that HP will make things right. This will also bring the current developers back into the fold as they only have to develop for WebOS 2.X and when available 3.X without worrying that current users will be unwilling to purchase software.
I would like to conclude by telling you how much I use and enjoy my Verizon Pre Plus. I can accomplish most online tasks without using my HP DV9000 Laptop. I have purchased extra chargers and batteries to ensure that my Pre Plus is always ready when I need it. I have never had my Pre Plus drop a call or lose data. I have really enjoyed the involvement of the Homebrew community and the developers who have created patches and applications that seem to have been written to my exact needs and desires. I currently have 144 applications loaded and 62 patches. This is in no way an indication that something was wrong with WebOS, but rather an indication of the flexibility it has to meet everyone’s needs. My wife has no patches and less than three dozen applications on her Pre Plus and uses it nearly as much as I use mine demonstrating that the phone will work for some people right out of the box and never leave them wanting and this is the first cellular phone she has owned that she did not have constant complaints about. I have been very satisfied with my Pre Plus and it has never let me down. I am excited to see the first crop of HP products based on WebOS and eager to get some hands on time with them.
Looking forward to hearing from HP and the Board of Directors about their solution to this problem.
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Originally Posted by treetom
