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HP’s Palm boss has sent out an internal email urging staff not to feel dishearten following a raft of negative reviews of the firm’s newly launched WebOS-powered TouchPad tablet.
Jon Rubenstein, HP senior veep and boss of the HP Palm business unit, told staff: "The HP team has achieved something extraordinary – especially when you consider that it’s been just one year since our work Ont he TouchPad began in earnest."
Rubenstein said that the reviews showed that the industry "sees the same potential in webOS" as HP does, quoting a New York Times review which said "there are signs of greatness here."
The Palm boss went on to point out that the issues reviewers were raising were well known to the development team and said that the company plans to issue over-the-air updates in "short order" to address the flaws.
Interestingly Rubenstein went on to equate the WebOS tablet launch with the launch of the MacOS X, quoting reviewers as describing Apple’s successful OS launch as "sluggish" and complaining about "no quality apps."
Rubenstein said that as opposed to MacOS, the audience for WebOS was well aware that the firm’s Palm-acquired operating system "has the potential for greatness."
Is Rubenstein right to compare the launch of WebOS 3 with Mac OS X?
It seems HP does at least have time on its side with an ongoing commitment to push out WebOS to a variety of devices, from PCs to printers, which means it will not live or die on the fortunes of the TouchPad.
You can read the full email over at precentral.
