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Gadgets HP Shifting Focus from PCs to Tablets
Tiffany Kaiser - February 27, 2013 2:09 PM

20 comment(s) - last by Ammohunt.. on Feb 28 at 11:46 AM

HP CEO Meg Whitman said quality and innovation will be the main focus points

Hewlett-Packard (HP) didn’t have the best luck with mobile its last time around, but the company is looking to give it a second shot by paying closer attention to both quality and innovation.

HP CEO Meg Whitman said that the PC maker is now focusing on tablets specifically during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference.

“We’re shifting resources from PCs to tablets,” said Whitman. “The market moved very fast to tablets and smartphones, and we’ve got to now manage that transition. And it’s not that HP didn’t try to manage that transition – they did with the acquisition of Palm. But as you know under the previous [management] that took a little detour to nowhere.”

To make sure the Palm disaster doesn’t happen again, Whitman said HP will focus more closely on quality this time around. She wants to correct warranty and support problems in order to achieve this.

Whitman also mentioned keeping on top of innovation, saying that “innovation is not dead at this company.” She has already upped research and development funding in order to help out in this area.

Earlier this week, HP announced an Android-powered tablet called the Slate 7 for $170. The specs include a dual-core, 1.6GHz Cortex A9 ARM processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage space (expandable via microSD), a 1024x600 display, Bluetooth 2.1, a front-facing VGA camera, and a 3MP shooter on the back.

a dual-core, 1.6GHz Cortex A9 ARM processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage space (expandable via microSD), and a 1024x600 display. Other lackluster specs include Bluetooth 2.1, a front-facing VGA camera, and a 3MP shooter on the back. The device runs a stock version of Android 4.1. - See more at: http://www.dailytech.com/HP+Steps+Back+into+Tablet+Game+With+Androidpowered+170+Slate+7/article29975.htm#sthash.Y6I2pYGx.dpuf

HP acquired Palm for $1.2 billion in 2010, but encountered many issues. Mainly, sales were slow due to sloppy execution, overproduction and slow hardware releases.

HP eventually killed off webOS and its TouchPad tablet in 2011.

Earlier this week, HP sold webOS to LG for SmartTVs.

Source: CNET

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The tablet market has sorely missed poor quality control

By tayb on 2/27/2013 4:27:37 PM , Rating: 3

HP is jumping into the tablet foray? Excellent. This market segment has been sorely missing poor quality control, abysmal screen quality, junky plastic enclosures, and uninspired designs!

When I'm shopping for a laptop I don't even bother going to the HP site. I don't even look. It will take a substantial change by HP for me to even consider a device from them.

RE: The tablet market has sorely missed poor quality control

By Milliamp on 2/27/2013 11:40:14 PM , Rating: 2

It depends on what the item is but a pretty significant portion of the population just buys the cheapest available product.

The cheapest 1080p TV's at Walmart sell larger volume than the higher end Samsung TV's for instance.

People buying tablets and smart phones are a little more researched (right now) but this is true for a majority of products.

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"Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?... So why the f*** doesn't it do that?" -- Steve Jobs