There are many things that can be said that went wrong with the launch of the playbook. From delays, no native email, not many apps, im+ been given the run around, RIM still missing deadlines, issues with bridging and the list goes on.
However after seeing hp just wipe the touchpad off the map I must say, maybe RIM didn't make as big a mistake as we thought they did. Some people would have hoped the device would launch with native email but the touchpad had that and it didnt seem to help. RIM marketing is definitely lacking, but with all the marketing from HP, the touchpad still didnt survive.
Instead of spending time on ensuring the device had email, they ensured that the device performed optimal, so even with the similar hardware as touchpad the playbooks performance is rock on. The team spent the time ensuring that the playbook would be a loveable experience, and although there are still many things to be worked out, we goto thank the developers for ensuring the survivability of the QNX platform
The Touchpad by itself did not encourage HP to get out of the consumer market. I agree , the top brass at HP made much larger blunders. The Veer and Touchpad were strike 1 and 2 from HP for the year, but there was already a train rolling out for the PSG at HP.
This was a huge corporate shift for HP. I'm not sure even apple sized lines for this device on release would have saved it. They may have known it wouldn't sell, but I don't think their decision was based on TP or WebOS sales.
And its not like the various Tablet OSes have taken their sales position based on who is the fittest. There's many other factors in play.
