What happened to the iPAQ?

Photo from ZDNet

I admit that sheer abundance of work has kept me pretty disconnected lately, but I can't believe I didn't pay more attention when the 910 was first announced, and then later released. I mean I'm a major iPAQ fan, after all. I have 3 of the damn things (older models, of course). This looks like one seriously loaded device (to see ZDNet's image gallery of the unboxing from back in June, go here), but more like a BlackBerry than the normal HP handset! It's more of what I expected from a leading maker of Windows Mobile handhelds (which I mean as a compliment), and by the way, the maker of one the first great Windows Mobile PDAs--okay it was Compaq then..but still HP kept the tradition alive, or at least tried to.

I noted review links on PocketPCThoughts.com, but the buzz is greatly muted, if one could even call it a buzz. More like a squeek. The last couple of iPAQ Professional and PDA models have been met with somewhat collective yawns. Engadget announced the release with something to the effect that "all of 14 People" were awaiting the new device with bated breath. What I don't understand is, why? What's wrong with the iPAQ line? Is it simply iPhone mania? It's not fair to compare a business-oriented device like the 910 to the iPhone, but even if you do, I can't believe that it can all be blamed on the iPhone. Is it stability? Blackberry made it's mark (and I know because I have one, and it works really, really WELL) in the business arena because of it's incredibly simple user interface, push mail, and solid performance. It starts up in a flash, does what it's s'posed to without crashing, and turns off. Period. The later iPAQs did have some stability issues no doubt, but there were usually patches, tweaks and work-arounds.  Anyway, HP could surely have tweaked WM enough to get e-mail push working well, and anyway the community of iPAQ fans were willing to overlook some of the warts, just like the iPhone sycophants do today. Okay, so maybe it's the lack of innovation and waiting for years between models? I still don't think so. At least not in and of itself. HP was one of the only handset makers (that I can recall, anyway) to integrate a biometric fingerprint reader into their PDA line, and this back when the iPhone was a gleam in Steve's eye. Well, the iPhone was probably further along than that, but you get the picture. I'm not buying it, though...The thing is, HTC doesn't seem to have this issue. They still sell handsets despite the iPhone crackheads, and look at the furor over the Xperia? People went bonkers over that thing...So what is the problem with HP?

In my humble user opinion, it's really a combination of all these factors. Poor marketing, timing, and the whole user loyalty and experience thing (which is fickle, indeed). Mainly though, it's a case of not listening to the hand that feeds you. What I think (and again just my opinion), is that HP never really went after changing the default WM OS the way vendors and carriers are doing now. I have an i-mate 8150. It's as unstable as hell, but the thing has probably 12 or thirteen custom apps that install automatically after a hard reset. Oh, and it looks cool, has a VGA screen, a scroll wheel, a little joy-stick kind of thingy, and weirdly an FM radio. HP packed in a lot of decent hardware options (usually at an exponentially higher cost), but often the software in WIndows Mobile did not fully capatilize on this. Sometimes, the software either had to be tweaked to get it to (registry or some hidden setting) work properly...

Uhh, guess what, HP? User no likey that experience, and user go away. The Touch Flow interface on HTC devices gave their phones at least a fighting chance against Apple, and the phones themselves looked sleek. HP still has the crap like iTask with it's ugly Windows 95 look and feel. Have you ever seen someone try to use a Windows Mobile phone one-handed (while driving)? It's actually quite humurous. I can tell from a distance when someone is trying to select that tiny X button with a thumb turned sideways and jammed up in the right corner of the display, which is a dead WM giveaway. Hello HP and Microsoft? The screen is small. Fingers are large. It's frustrating, and dangerous, because people are operating motor vehicles while doing finger gymnastics. Not me, though...I have a blackberry. I can drive and check my e-mail no problem. I kid, mostly.

Lastly, when many major OEMs and carriers are throwing serious innovation into every new model (and really diversifying the models), offering free OS upgrades, not to mention significant discounts, HP basically stuck it's collective hands in pockets and continued to disappoint, short change and gouge their customer base with old, tired, overpriced hardware. They were still selling the iPAQ 2495 until recently, which is a model I currently own. They never upgraded it beyond WM 5.0 It's not a hardware issue, either, because mine runs WM 6.1 just fine. I know because I upgraded to a cooked version. My old 3955's (one of which now running portable linux distro) are at least as stable as 6.1, and in some cases better. They don't turn on/off on their own, which has always been a mystery to me with the 2495, and I've read the forums and tweaked everything I can find. My wife thinks it's possessed.

Even still, I have to ask the question again...Why? Why didn't the iPAQ line evolve with the industry and stay ahead? Any major vendor could, actually should have seen the iPhone coming, and started really working on their units. That's the part I don't get... Why didn't HP save this fabulous line of products that it inherited from Compaq? Maybe someone can explain it to me... Maybe HP still can save the iPAQ?

Oh, and P.S. HP.. despite the somewhat negative tone of this post, I would certainly be amenable to reviewing the 910, should you wish to send me one. I am after all, still an iPAQ fan, albeit a somehwat disgruntled one. Maybe brand loyalty is a quaint notion these days...