HP’s vice president of webOS developer relations in the announcement

The hardware giant is preparing to launch Pivot, a monthly digital publication exclusively offered on its forthcoming TouchPad tablet. Rather than running pure advertorial, the hybrid magazine/app guide will offer visually-driven features, reviews, columns and other content written by professional journalists and guest writers.
At first glance, Pivot appears to be yet another digital lifestyle magazine, but there’s actually a lot more going on. HP says Pivot’s core mission is to show off the TouchPad’s capabilities and developer community, while also educating users about the device’s new webOS app store.
Preaching to the converted through a device-locked publication is an expensive project, but it might be a necessary evil for HP. Last year the the company scooped up smartphone veteran Palm (and its webOS platform) for a hefty $1.2 billion. Since then, HP has been playing catch-up while working to integrate the webOS into mobile devices like the TouchPad.

Other Business News:

Hp pavilion dv6 battery

Hp presario cq60 battery

Touch Screen Monitors

Now that the TouchPad’s release is imminent, it’s up to projects like Pivot to remind consumers and developers alike that webOS is still alive and kicking.
“We want our partners to experience webOS as the growing platform of opportunity,” said Richard Kerris, HP’s vice president of webOS developer relations in the announcement. “We’re investing in new ways to help market their applications on our platform.”
Of course, Pivot is not a selfless endeavor. Both the unreleased TouchPad and webOS are already well behind powerhouses like Apple’s iPad and iOS in sales and marketshare. And while the iOS and Android app stores are steadily developing digital publishing prowess, webOS is in for an uphill climb — both as an app platform and as a viable outlet for digital publications.


CloudTags: HP, get,  magazine, business, Dell inspiron 1520 batteries, Hp 484170-001 battery

HP lists a number of TouchPad distribution partners for business customers

Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and its online retail partners are now taking TouchPad tablet pre-orders, but prospective customers might find this seemingly simple process to be more difficult than they'd anticipated.

That's because several online retailers that HP links to on its official TouchPad tablet Web site aren't actually taking pre-orders, if "pre-order" is defined as being able to reserve a TouchPad prior to the tablet's July 1 release.

HP lists a number of TouchPad distribution partners for business customers, but as of Monday afternoon Pacific time, the landing pages for Zones (link), Neweggbusiness.com (link), and TigerDirect.com were inactive, and visitors were greeted with 404 errors when they clicked from HP's TouchPad site.

CDW's TouchPad page invited visitors to enter their contact information to be informed of TouchPad availability by their CDW account manager. But the page also indicated that the TouchPad will be available "this summer", even though HP announced nearly two weeks ago that it would be available July 1.

The pre-ordering process isn't any easier for consumers: As of Monday afternoon, the TouchPad landing pages for Sam's (link),Officemax (NYSE:OMX) (link), Radio Shack (link) and Hilliard, Ohio-based Micro Center (link) all listed the TouchPad as "coming soon" but offered no online or telephone pre-ordering capability.

HP's own TouchPad tablet site for consumers listed the product as "coming soon" with no online pre-ordering capability, although it did list a phone number. However, on Monday, customers couldn't pre-order TouchPads by calling this number; they could only agree to be added to a list and be contacted by HP when the TouchPad becomes available.

Obviously, these issues could cause frustration for potential TouchPad tablet buyers, and that's something HP would like to avoid as it seeks to drum up interest in an extremely important product.

"HP is aware of the issue and is taking immediate action to try to resolve the issues with the links. HP reseller partners can place pre-orders through their distributors, which many have already started doing," an HP spokesperson said in an email.

New product launches are often beset with various types of glitches, and HP isn't likely to lose TouchPad customers as a result of this one. However, HP counts its channel and distribution muscle as one of its key advantages over Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) and other tablet players, so the fact that this is happening in a traditional area of HP strength has to be at least a bit concerning.

CloudTags: HP, TouchPad Tablet, Pre-Orders, Hit, wholesaleeshop, Acer aspire 5920 battery Hp dv8000 battery 

Other Business News:

Touch Screen

iPad Tablet PC

Hp probook 4515s battery

HP TouchPad will not get an easy ride against the Tab 10.1 and iPad 2

WebOS, the OS that everybody loves, but that isn't running on hot smartphone form factors yet, will reach version 3.0 in the coming weeks. The HP TouchPad is the device to bring it to market, and the capacitive tablet can now be pre-ordered in select markets. The official release date for the TouchPad is July 1 for U.S. customers. It's worth noting that AT&T will officially launch a version of the TouchPad this summer, so don't go ahead and pre-order the Wi-Fi model if you want AT&T 3G connectivity. More details will be announced closer to release.

The TouchPad Wi-Fi will be available in 16GB and 32GB versions, selling for $500 and $600, respectively. Optional accessories for the TouchPad include the HP Touchstone Charging Dock, a Wireless Keyboard and a TouchPad Case (all sold separately). U.S. retailers and commercial resellers for the TouchPad include Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, Walmart, Sam's Club, OfficeMax, Amazon.com, Fry's, Microcenter, other leading local and regional retailers, as well as HP's online stores.

We recently reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - an Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablet that proved to be packed with advanced technology in a super-thin body. The iPad 2 has taken a slightly different route, focusing heavily on its "Supersized iPhone" experience. The HP TouchPad will not get an easy ride against the Tab 10.1 and iPad 2, and let's not forget that 7-inchers like the HTC Flyer (and soon EVO View 4G for Sprint) will claim a stake in the capacitive tablet market too.

HP is confident that the TouchPad will become a success though:

"What makes HP TouchPad a compelling alternative to competing products is webOS," said Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager, Palm Global Business Unit, HP. "The platform's unmatched features and flexibility will continue to differentiate HP products from the rest of the market for both personal and professional use. This is only the beginning of what HP's scale can do with webOS."

We look forward to giving the TouchPad a run for its money!

The WebOS nuts at PreCentral have received an anonymous tip-off that HP's imminent slate won't be able to edit Office docs out of the box. As much as we'd like to dismiss this as a retaliatory rumor put out by BlackBerry, it emits an unfortunate whiff of truth. While HP has previously made a big deal of the TouchPad's inclusion of the Quickoffice app, it has only said it's "working with Quickoffice" to include document editing, and it has never demoed editing in action. The company has recently been trying to boost its app count, but perhaps it should have put more effort into securing core functionality instead. A glimmer of hope, though: the same tip-off also suggested that at least some editing capabilities will be introduced "via a downloadable update in Q3 2011". Hey, what's the rush?

CloudTags: HP, confident, TouchPad, success, iPad Tablet PC, Philips LCD Monitor, Dell inspiron mini 9 batteries

Other Business News:

Acer aspire 5520 batteriesTouch Screen Monitors

HP call center supervisor can not help customer

Consumer electronics have this terrible, terrible habit of breaking down shortly after the manufacturer's warranty is up. In Eva's case, the battery of her HP laptop self-destructed just two weeks after her original warranty ended. She thought that perhaps since her battery had started failing during the warranty period, they might give her a break. Nope. Thus began her battle of wills with R., the HP call center supervisor who can't help you, but answers to no one.
A month or a month and a half ago, my HP G-series laptop started shutting down suddenly. It was annoying, but I thought it was basically an exotic version of a computer crash, so I saved my work a lot and didn't worry about it.

Enter last night, when, two weeks out of warranty, my battery status indicator informed me that ""There is a problem with your battery, so your computer might shut down suddenly. Consider replacing your battery." My computer might shut down suddenly? Like it had been doing already? Ooooh. So what I'd been experiencing was a failing battery.

Well, the computer was only two weeks out of warranty, and the problem had manifested while I had a warranty, so it seemed reasonable to me that HP would agree that 1) one year and two weeks is the world's shortest notebook battery life and not acceptable, and 2) the problem happened while the computer was in warranty. Off I went to call customer service.

I should say that the first two times I called the HP 1-800 number for help, I carefully went through the phone tree like a good girl, pressing all the correct options. After promising to transfer me to the correct department, the phone tree then hung up on me. Twice.

The next time I called, I just said "agent" over and over to the phone tree robot lady, like a demented parrot. This got me through to Rep 1, who told me to buy a new battery and wouldn't (probably couldn't) offer other options. I asked for a supervisor, and he put me on hold...forever. No one ever picked up the phone again.

Related News:

Hp pavilion dv5 batteries 

Hp probook 4515s batteries

Touch Screen

After going through the "agent" routine with the phone tree again, I got Rep #2, who offered that I could pay $49 or $99 or perhaps $49 and also $99 (it was unclear) for technical support, after which I could buy a battery from him for only $99. I turned down this incredible bargain politely and asked for his supervisor. After 30 minutes on hold, he said that the supervisor was still busy, and the best thing would be for me to hang up and send a letter to HP. I declined this option, which sounded like a non-starter, and asked to wait for the supervisor.

After forty minutes, I got "R.," the supervisor, on the line. R promised to check my battery to see if it was eligible for a recall and then to explore other options with me. He then put me on hold. When he came back, he wanted me to hang up with him and go check an HP website about battery recalls. I told him I'd already checked the website (I had) and my battery wasn't on the list (it wasn't). He then revealed he had checked the website and found the same thing. I'm not sure why he wanted me to check also, but I suspect it was an attempt to get me to hang up.

Anyway, then he launched into the same sales spiel the customer rep had already given me — my battery was out of warranty, but I could pay for this nifty service package! And then they could diagnose it! And then I could buy a new battery!

CloudTags: HP, call center, supervisor, can not, help, customer, Hp 484170-001 batteries, Hp dv6000 batteries, Hp pavilion dv5 batteries 

HP's day-to-day operations management will Drop Three Key Execs

Two other exiting HP execs who were hired by former CEO Mark Hurd weren't as fortunate to be asked to join the board. Pete Bocian, 57, hired as executive vice president and chief administrative officer in 2008 -- whose position is being eliminated -- and Randy Mott, 55, executive vice president and chief information officer since 2005, are out effective immediately, HP said. The company is starting a search for Mott's replacement.

Pressure Due to So-So Earnings Reports?

It's probably not a coincidence that changes such as these are being made now, only weeks after a modestly profitable quarterly earnings report showed a sharp dropoff in the year-to-year sales of HP consumer PCs -- a sector upon which the company relies heavily. A corresponding upsurge in the sales in the last year of tablet PCs, mostly from Apple, is considered a major reason for a23 percent drop in consumer PC sales from 2010 to 2011.

With Apple owning a yearlong head start and about 90 percent of the tablet market -- not to mention a flood of Android-based tablets moving swiftly into the market -- HP is running late with its TouchPad tablet, which has received good early reviews but isn't due out until next month.

HP said the moves are "organizational changes that will more closely align its corporate structure with the strategy" that new president and CEO Apotheker revealed back on March 14.

Apotheker, who was with German enterprise software maker SAP for two decades and was hired for the HP CEO job in September 2010, is centralizing the operational corporate leadership around his office by removing some layers of administration -- in this case, Livermore, Mott and Bocian.

For example, HP said that David Donatelli -- who runs a large part of the company as executive vice president of enterprise servers, storage, networking and technology services -- and Bill Veghte, executive vice president of the software division, now will report directly to Apotheker.

Jan Zadak, executive vice president of global sales, also will report to Apotheker. HP said that these executives reporting to Apotheker gives "their respective units greater visibility and support throughout the entire HP organization."

Lastly, two other HP executives have been given additional duties. Todd Bradley, executive vice president of the personal systems group, who was considered a short-list candidate for CEO before Apotheker was hired, will now head up cross-business initiatives focused on expanding HP’s market share in China.

Vyomesh Joshi, current executive vice president of the Imaging and Printing Group, will lead a similar initiative in India.

HP has a solid foundation in WebOS, and laying out exactly what makes the TouchPad unique is the best way to make tablet buyers think twice about an iPad or Android tablet. If this is how HP will market the TouchPad to mainstream consumers next month, it may actually have a chance.

Other Business News:

Touch Screen LCD Panel

LCD Monitor

Dell latitude d820 battery

CloudTags: HP, day-to-day operations, management, Drop, Three Key Execs, Touch Screen, iPad Tablet PC

Could HP TouchPad be very competitive on the market

Hewlett-Packard on Friday said that it would start selling its highly-anticipated TouchPad media tablet starting July 1, 2011. Depending on the version, the TouchPad with Wi-Fi will cost $499 or $599. HP hopes that the TouchPad will be very competitive on the market because of its feature-set and flexibility.
It is joining a batch of other tablets, including the iPad2, Motorola Xoom, more Galaxy Tabs and the BlackBerry Playbook.


Since there's still a few days before HP will be taking orders, let's take a look under the hood.



Platform


HP started dabbling in smartphones with the IPAQ Voice Messenger in 2007 before getting serious and buying Palm in 2010. Palm had built a following around the early Palm Pilot organizer and the Treo line of smartphones.


This deal gave HP control of Palm's slick operating system known as webOS, which was being used on the Palm Pre smartphones.


The webOS platform is completely different from Android and the iOS devices.


If you ask any Palm Pre fans, they would say it's all about synergy, as the webOS goes about gathering all your information, such as contacts, calendar items and social networks, and putting it in one place.


Armed with Palm's technology, I knew it would just be a matter of time before an HP tablet was born and shazam!, we now have the TouchPad.


HP simply says "there is nothing like it" when touting the webOS platform, adding that it'll take multitasking to another level.


If the TouchPad can put all my calendars in one place, like HP claims, that could be a winner, as I have calendars scattered all the over the Web in Google, Yahoo!, Apple's MobileMe and of course, Microsoft Exchange. That's just too many, but I don't know what to do about it.


According to HP, you can expect a lot of synergy between the TouchPad and two HP smartphones - the Veer and the Pre 3 - for sharing Web addresses with the TouchPad.

Other Business News:

Hp pavilion dv6000 battery

Hp presario cq60 battery

Hp nc8230 battery

CloudTags: HP, TouchPad, competitive, market, LCD Monitor, Hp pavilion dv5 battery

Oracle named former HP CEO Mark Hurd as an Oracle co-president

HP declined to make the letter public, saying it contained confidential information, but it said it intends to hold Oracle to its commitments to HP and its customers. HP said in a statement that Oracle's decision "violates legally binding commitments Oracle has made to HP and the more than 140,000 shared HP-Oracle customers," according to chief HP spokesman Bill Wohl.

Asked if the letter has a deadline for an Oracle response, an HP spokeswoman, said it didn't. It was intended to put Oracle on notice that HP has legal rights that it expects to be honored. Oracle will be given a chance to respond, she said.

Oracle's move March 22 was a blow to both the HPUX and former Digital Equipment Corp. VMS segments of HP's customer base. Its largest user group, Connect, issued statements in April urging Oracle not to drop Itanium from its list of targeted platforms to be included in its development of future database and application products. HP builds Integrity servers with the Itanium chip, and in the 1990s co-developed successive iterations of the chip with Intel. Intel assumed all Itanium development in 2004.

Other Business News:

Dell inspiron 6400 batteryIbm thinkpad t60 battery

Dell latitude d630 battery

2010 Threats: Why they happened and the tools available to thwart them.
Take a quick look back to prepare for future threats.

"A large contingency of our community is made up of users running HP-UX and OpenVMS on Integrity servers. They are clearly disturbed by Oracle's decision to stop developing applications for Intel Itanium processors," said Connect CMO Nina Buik in a statement April 13.

The most damaging part of Oracle's move may have been its claim that it was based on background conversations with Intel engineers. "Intel management made it clear that their strategic focus is on their x86 microprocessor and that Itanium was nearing the end of its life," Oracle said in a statement at the time.

The statement drew a sharp response from HP, pointing out that Oracle is now a competitor of the Itanium platform with its Sparc chip set, which was acquired when it closed its deal to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion in early 2010.

It also drew a sharp reaction from Intel. CEO Paul Otellini soon issued a statement that Intel continued to have an ambitious roadmap for Itanium that included a next-generation chip, "Poulson," with a new microarchitecture that would keep Itanium competitive in the marketplace for several years.

HP summarized the events in its letter as "an unlawful attempt to force customers from HP Itanium platforms to Oracle's own platforms," a statement from Wohl's office said. As a result, HP "made a formal legal demand on Oracle to reverse its decision" in its June 8 letter. "HP believes that Oracle is legally obligated to continue to offer its software product suite on the Itanium platform and we will take whatever legal actions are available to us necessary to protect our customers' best interests."

Wohl reaffirmed HP's commitment to its "long-term, mission-critical server roadmap, including Intel's Itanium processor." Intel has likewise "reinforced" it ongoing commitment, he said.

Oracle named former HP CEO Mark Hurd as an Oracle co-president after he resigned from HP amid accusations of misconduct in composing expense accounts and violations of the company's business policies. He was allegedly covering up a relationship with an HP contractor, the HP board said in explaining its decision. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison criticized the way the HP board of directors had conducted its investigation and hired Hurd soon afterward.

CloudTags:  HP, Threatens, Legal Action, Against, Oracle, www.wholesaleeshop.com.au,  Philips LCD Monitor,  compaq nx6120 battery