Andrew Kelly aka 'The Mattressman' is the CEO of the company by the same name. In a surprising move Kelly has branched out into the potentially lucrative budget tablet market, with the Andypad.
Leo Apothker is CEO of HP, and the man that recently announced the termination of WebOS and the associated hardware, sparking what can only be described as a feeding frenzy on the heavily discounted Touchpad and Palm Pre.
Leo Apothker is CEO of HP, and the man that recently announced the termination of WebOS and the associated hardware, sparking what can only be described as a feeding frenzy on the heavily discounted Touchpad and Palm Pre.
Despite having much of their future centred around the Touchpad just a few months ago, HP has conceeded after poor sales that it simple cannot compete against the iOS, and to a lesser degree in the tablet market, Android. The reason behind the failure of WebOS is ultimately this: a lesser product at an equal price. Considering the component cost, and Apples usual affinity for price premiums, the iPad is surprisingly well priced at £400 for the basic model (don't get me started on the extra £80 for 32Gb of flash memory). They are able to do this, because of their vertical business model; controlling both the hardware and the software allows them to buy in bulk and far in advance of their roadmap, and reap the associated cost savings.
HP should have known that if they were to realistically compete then there must be something amazing to differentiate their tablet from the Ipad 2. As I've said before, in the exact same way as the computer games industry, success in the smartphone/tablet industry is largely attributable to third party support. Apple have this in bags. Hp didn't. HP had a great product in the Touchpad. They could answer questions like 'why would I buy one?' but ultimately couldn't answer 'why would I buy one over an iPad?'.
HP should have known that if they were to realistically compete then there must be something amazing to differentiate their tablet from the Ipad 2. As I've said before, in the exact same way as the computer games industry, success in the smartphone/tablet industry is largely attributable to third party support. Apple have this in bags. Hp didn't. HP had a great product in the Touchpad. They could answer questions like 'why would I buy one?' but ultimately couldn't answer 'why would I buy one over an iPad?'.
In my eyes, the only realistic answer would have been: 'Its cheaper'. But it wasn't.
...Until the fire sale! We have seen HP Touchpads flying off the shelves, people around me that have never wanted a tablet before, suddenly had to have one. £89.99? Sign me up! There weren't enough to go around, websites crashed, people queued, and sales employees of electronics retailers started carrying bear mace and wearing badges that said 'We have no HP Touchpads so stop asking'.
The underlying feeling is, that because of a tablets position (Is it a phone? No. Is it a computer? No. Do I have two separate products that already do everything it does? Yes), its something that no one needs, but people do want. For your average joe, they are hard to justify, and especially if they ring in at £400 or more!
Which is where the Andypad comes in. We've seen a large number low cost Android Tablets and all have been pretty terrible in their own way. My favourite is the Next tablet which received universally dismal reviews. The Andypad appears at a glance as if it could fill the low cost Tablet niche that Apple ignore and HP have proved exists. In many ways Andrew Kelly will be cursing the day HP discontinued the Touchpad and took a giant bite out of their target market. However, in doing so they might just have whipped up a hankering for a low cost tablet just days before the Andypads launch.
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