今日科技：惠普平板先天不足注定失败

    * 惠普公司（HP）去年终于以99美元的跳楼价推出了Touchpad平板电脑。但前Palm公司员工表示，该产品毫无机会可言。原因在于，该公司缺乏领导人才和工程技术人员。惠普在开发用于该平板电脑的操作系统WebOS时狂赶工期，整个开发过程只用了9个月的时间。此外，WebOS采用了开源软件引擎WebKit，而一些人认为该软件引擎目前尚未成熟。因此，与苹果公司（Apple）的iOS和谷歌公司的安卓（Android）系统相比，WebOS不免显得乏善可陈。【《纽约时报》（The New York Times）】

    * IBM在前任首席执行官彭明盛的领导下，实现了2.17亿美元的公司市值，是惠普的四倍还多。他是怎么做到的？【《纽约时报》（The New York Times）】

    * 由于存在大量客户投诉，而且联邦政府相关机构开始对其进行审查，威力众无线公司（Verizon Wireless）放弃了收取2美元附加费的计划。该公司原本打算从本月晚些时候起，开始对通过电话或在线完成一次性付款的客户收取2美元的额外费用。【美国有线电视新闻网财经频道（CNNMoney）】

    * 索尼公司（Sony）推出了最新手持平台PlayStation Vita，但就在该产品在日本本土推出后的第二周，其销量就开始下降。这款产品在发布后两天内总共售出了32万部，但在整个第二周总共只售出了7.25万部，销量狂跌了78%。【《微电脑世界》（PCWorld）】

    * 也许从市场占有率的角度看，安卓系统（Android）确实在“大步流星”地赶超iOS。但是，我的同事菲尔•爱尔默-德维特认为，谷歌（Google）安卓系统的市场占有率其实逐月增长得并不那么迅速，他将两者之间的竞争比喻为龟兔赛跑。一直以来，苹果公司（Apple）的市场占有率逐月缓慢而稳步地增长，而谷歌的市场份额增长率尽管在去年1月时曾高达20%，但目前已创下1.3%的新低，增速大幅放缓。【《财富》杂志（Fortune）】

    * 圣诞期间最佳零售广告综述，涉及到的零售店包括苹果、沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）、以及塔吉特（Target）等。（科技新闻网站All Things D）

    * 可能是由于Facebook、Twitter、BlackBerry Messenger、以及iMessage的流行，芬兰、香港、澳大利亚、以及世界上其它一些地区的手机短信使用开始呈现下降趋势。（《纽约时报》）

    译者：大海

    * According to former Palm employees, HP's Touchpad tablet, which the company eventually liquidated last year with a $99 fire sale, didn't have a chance. Leadership and engineering talent was lacking. The company took shortcuts while developing the WebOS operating system in just 9 months. And its WebOS operating system used WebKit, an open-source software engine that some felt wasn't quite ready for prime time, which left WebOS underpowered compared to Apple iOS and Android. (The New York Times)

    * How ex-CEO Samuel J. Palmisano turned IBM (IBM) into a company with a market value of $217 million, more than four times HP's. (The New York Times)

    * Verizon Wireless (VZ) dropped plans for a $2 surcharge fee after numerous customer complaints and scrutiny from federal regulators. The company had planned to charge customers $2 for making one-time payments by phone or online later this month. (CNNMoney)

    * Sales of Sony's new handheld platform, the PlayStation Vita, dropped during its second week in Japan. While it managed to sell over 320,000 units during its first two days available, it only sold some 72,500 units in all of week two, translating to a 78% drop. (PCWorld)

    * Android may be "walloping" iOS where market share is concerned, but colleague Phil Elmer-Dewitt argues month-over-month growth is another story, comparing this race to the tortoise and the hare. While Apple's market share has grown slowly but steadily month over month, Google's (GOOG) rate of growth has dropped, from a high of 20% last January to a new low of 1.3%. (Fortune)

    * A round-up of the some of the holiday's best retail ads, from the likes of Apple, Wal-Mart, and Target. (All Things D)

    * Texting is on the decline in some parts of the world like Finland, Hong Kong, and Australia, likely due to the popularity of Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerry Messenger, and iMessage. (The New York Times)