Don't touch this? TouchPad Update
The market has voted. Consumers recommend not touching the TouchPad with a ten foot pole. The Touchpad has had the fastest decline in delight we’ve seen, ever, in the Tablet market. Within two weeks of launch, it went from being one of the highest rated experiences in the market to one of the lowest.
The question is “why?”. There are all sorts of pundits talking about their high hopes for the TouchPad experience, especially as a potential ecosystem alternative to the iPad. Based on what we’re seeing in our data from actual users, HP failed to execute on the basics. Across the board, the top usage scenario for Tablets is content consumption, typically in the order of Web Surfing, Movies, Games, Books, and Music. Here’s how the TouchPad usage stacks up:
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Notice that on the features that matter most, users, even those that love the TouchPad, are not hot on it’s ability to support content consumption. What’s even more telling is where enterprise usage ranked. The TouchPad was supposed to be THE tablet for the busy professional, providing rock solid enterprise support. Professional usage, “Work” ranked 9th of overall usage topics mentioned with a net negative sentiment across the board. This means the TouchPad not only didn’t measure up the expectations of the core Tablet market, but also missed the mark for the core niche they were aimed on delighting.
Luckily HP has an advantage over their competition–Web OS. Overall, the OS was a source of delight for consumers, though the lack of Apps within the WebOS ecosystem continues to be an issue. If they leverage the over-the-air capabilities they pioneered with the Palm Pre, then disgruntled users may find an improved experience.