Tablet truths

Once upon a time, there was a company called Palm. One day, HP acquired Palm, and along with it, webOS.

HP rolled out webOS in some of it’s products including tablets. Unfortunately, HP found that it was extremely difficult to compete with giants like Google, Apple and Microsoft.

So one day, it decided to junk webOS and said webOS device development and production lines would be halted. Many people had bought HP’s products that had webOS. One of the most important products was the tablet called Touchpad.

Those who had bought Touchpads were shocked. Stopping of development in webOS meant that their Touchpads would no longer get updates, while similar tablets by other companies would continue to evolve. They were in a dilemma.

HP was also in a dilemma. It had lots of unsold Touchpads. No development meant nobody would buy them. So they decided to sell them at rock-bottom prices - even as low as $100. For consumers who wanted just a tablet, it was a steal. The product was great, and the only problem was that the operating system would not be developed. Those who only wanted a functional tablet and were not bothered about the OS went ahead and bought them. Of course, there were also those who were unaware that HP had stopped development in webOS.

Then there were the third category of buyers. They were mostly techies and knew they could do something about the OS. Tech forums started buzzing with things like “how to port webOS to Android”. They are still buzzing.

If you have a Touchpad with webOS, should you start wailing? Of course, you can if you really wish to. But only if you really want to be at the ‘cutting edge’ of technology. If you just want a tablet, and you are happy with it, it makes no difference whether HP updates it or not. If you don’t have a tablet and want a cheap one, and if you are least bothered about ‘stupid things’ like OS, start the hunt immediately. But be careful, several stores (including online ones) are still hawking Touchpads at their old prices.

For techies who want to know whether their Touchpads can be ported to Android, go to >http://forum.xda-developers.com/ and search for “touchpad on android”.

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