The TouchPad – The Sleeper Hit That Never Was

NYTimes: Sell Big or Die Fast

These days, big technology companies — particularly those in the hypercompetitive smartphone and tablet industries — are starting to resemble Hollywood film studios. Every release needs to be a blockbuster, and the only measure of success is the opening-weekend gross. There is little to no room for the sleeper indie hit that builds good word of mouth to become a solid performer over time.

This is unfortunate. As I’ve mentioned before, HP’s TouchPad has had a lot of potential and could very well have been one of those ‘sleeper’ hits. A cult favorite, if you will.
As I mentioned in my mini-review, there’s a lot to like with TouchPad, even though it’s not on par with the iPad. But all the bugs and missed details are clearly fixable.
Remember all the shit the iPhone was missing in the early days? Multi-tasking, video recording, front-facing camera, MMS, third party app development, GPS. Remember how they took baby steps each month of each year for the last 4 years releasing updates to address all the bugs and deficiencies?
As John Gruber said, once leadership changed at HP, the TouchPad had no chance of surviving.

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