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humourSaeedSpoof

The HP TouchPad – The wrong way to “Fail Fast”

By Saeed Khan

You may not have heard about it today (actually yesterday), but unceremoniously buried  in a press release, under “Other Announcements”, HP announced the end of the HP TouchPad and all WebOS devices.

Yes, you heard that. Now, for those of you following the Tablet Wars, HP’s foray into this market lasted a mere 49 days. The TouchPad became available on July 1, 2011. This must be a record for fastest failing technology product from a major company.

RIP TouchPad. RIP WebOS.

I decided that something had to be written about this incident. So here’s my ode to the TouchPad. Sung to the tune of the Beatles’s song A Day In The Life.

Did you here the news  from HPQ
They put a press release out there today
Though most of it was rather bland
Well I just had to laugh
There was one paragraph
That blew my mind, I have to say
They killed the TouchPad after seven weeks
And WebOS phones are also gone
I’ve seen this play before
But who would have thought that anyone would make the Kin look good?

1.2 Billion down the drain
That’s about how much they paid for Palm
Leo Apotheker must think
Why did it go wrong?
The plan seemed really strong

I’d love to try again

Touchpad, your time is up
49 days was just enough
To set the record for a failed device
And looking back, there was no other fate
Sales could only be poor or flat
Late to market and all that
The guys upstairs were just blowing smoke
And nobody spoke to tell them they were wrong

Did you hear the news about HP
Their Q3 revenue is up a bit this year
Though the EPS is not that small
They predict a shortfall
Now hopefully they know that me-too products hardly sell at all

They’d love to try again.

And here’s the original song for your listening pleasure.

Saeed

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