Is HP getting serious about calculators?
in [HP48]
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From: brad.barton on 3 Oct 2006 11:43 I've been lurking here a while, but not posting. I read a sort of funny post dated last March begging the new CEO to revive the ailing calculator division. Six months later, can anyone here (Jean-Yves, cyrille, etc) say whether or not there has been a change in the way HP approaches the calculator division, and the people they work with? Is more money being spent? I wonder if the answer is "yes" could anyone say anything without risking HP's legal department ripping them a new one. I think that the introduction of the 50G is definitely a positive step, and firm evidence that HP is beginning to see a bit of the light. But are they just trying to clean up the 49G+ problem and let it go at that, or is the 50G an indicator of better things to come? Any thoughts, hints, conjecture, evidence? Brad
From: TW on 3 Oct 2006 12:00 > calculator division. Six months later, can anyone here (Jean-Yves, > cyrille, etc) JYA doesn't work for HP anymore. He's his own boss now. . . well, except he was married a while back. ;-) All the ROM work he has done has been out of the goodness of his heart. > I wonder if the answer is "yes" could anyone > say anything without risking HP's legal department ripping them a new > one. Well, there you have it. Anyone who really knows won't tell, and anyone who does tell doesn't really know. > I think that the introduction of the 50G is definitely a positive step, > and firm evidence that HP is beginning to see a bit of the light. Yup. It does look like a positive step to me also. > are they just trying to clean up the 49G+ problem and let it go at > that, or is the 50G an indicator of better things to come? Well, my thought is at this point there are two options. Either the can milk the old systems as long as possible until nobody buys them anymore, or invest money in developing new systems. A fork in the road if you will. TW
From: greenchile505 on 3 Oct 2006 13:29 > JYA doesn't work for HP anymore. He's his own boss now. . . well, > except he was married a while back. ;-) All the ROM work he has done > has been out of the goodness of his heart. I don't understand this. Is he a contract employee? I can't imagine he fixes bugs or adds functionality, then sends the updates to HP and we get a new ROM. Sounds like fantasy. > Well, my thought is at this point there are two options. Either the > can milk the old systems as long as possible until nobody buys them > anymore, or invest money in developing new systems. A fork in the road > if you will. This is my opinion: I don't think HP will stop making calculators ever. They're cheap to make and easy to support. They have got to be cash cows. I think calculators are like gaming consoles. They have long term life cycles. For example, Playstation 2, which came to market in 2000 are still sold at BestBuy for US$129. Based on this theory, we might not see an hp 51gsxII+ for 3 to 6 years. HHC was just a few weeks ago. Anyone hear rumors while at the conference?! By the way, did anyone blog or archive the proceedings of HCC 2006 for those who could not attend?
From: blueelectron9 on 3 Oct 2006 13:48 On 3 Oct 2006 08:43:34 -0700, brad.barton(a)ccrtcblue.com wrote: >I've been lurking here a while, but not posting. I read a sort of >funny post dated last March begging the new CEO to revive the ailing >calculator division. Six months later, can anyone here (Jean-Yves, >cyrille, etc) say whether or not there has been a change in the way HP >approaches the calculator division, and the people they work with? Is >more money being spent? I wonder if the answer is "yes" could anyone >say anything without risking HP's legal department ripping them a new >one. > >I think that the introduction of the 50G is definitely a positive step, >and firm evidence that HP is beginning to see a bit of the light. But >are they just trying to clean up the 49G+ problem and let it go at >that, or is the 50G an indicator of better things to come? > >Any thoughts, hints, conjecture, evidence? > >Brad Reading up on the latest TI NSpire news, it looks like the TI device's interface has a lot to be desired (move a cursor with a D-pad and press a separate "click" button). The video tutorials I saw made it look so cumbersome to get anything done, that the time it may save in performing a calculation would be cancelled. Perhaps HP can gain some ground? --Scott
From: Veli-Pekka Nousiainen on 3 Oct 2006 14:44
greenchile505(a)yahoo.com wrote: >> JYA doesn't work for HP anymore. He's his own boss now. . . well, >> except he was married a while back. ;-) All the ROM work he has >> done has been out of the goodness of his heart. > > I don't understand this. Is he a contract employee? I can't imagine he > fixes bugs or adds functionality, then sends the updates to HP and we > get a new ROM. Sounds like fantasy. > >> Well, my thought is at this point there are two options. Either the >> can milk the old systems as long as possible until nobody buys them >> anymore, or invest money in developing new systems. A fork in the >> road if you will. > > This is my opinion: I don't think HP will stop making calculators > ever. They're cheap to make and easy to support. They have got to be > cash cows. I think calculators are like gaming consoles. They have > long term life cycles. For example, Playstation 2, which came to > market in 2000 are still sold at BestBuy for US$129. Based on this > theory, we might not see an hp 51gsxII+ for 3 to 6 years. They need to get some money back from the partial 49g+ failure The 50G will bring in some cash and the development continues A ClassPad, T'inspire, Xplorer, Qonos or similar product must be on the plans for survival I hope QOnos style machine with enough RAM & Flash for full Linux & C-development system That would not only replace students calculator, but laptop, too! Full VGA or larger (see Nokia 770) will a separate snap-in QWERTY keyboard (or calc keyboard) or perhaps a dual keyboard where the "bottom" is calc KB OR touch sensitive virtual keyboard with handwriting recognition The way I use my Nokia 7710 Multimedia Phone is quite easy Parisse's Xiac/CAS-system for Linux is a must as GNU-plotting HP could make the device and leave the software open... |