What happened between 39gii and prime?

[jlind]

(08-13-2019 04:23 AM)pvp100288840 Wrote:  Hi everyone here,
It is said that 39gii had been sold very cheap in China(about 10$ USD only) ,because it has a bad-programed firmware and its kit is completely a mess (For example, I can't even transport any program from emulator to kit).So on these bugs made me believe that 39gii is an uncompleted project.I wonder why HP give up 39gii so early.
Besides, I noticed that HP gave up scientists and engineer's market so far,but why?
Hope someone from HP can explain it.

Been using calculators since the mid-1970's, having cut my teeth on scientific, aka "slide rule" calculators with 7-segment red LEDs in the display. Have a fleet of them now. Acquired them over the decades since as their technology and capabilities advanced, not giving away or selling any. Cannot speak about the 39gII from personal experience as I don't own one. Released in 2011, eight years ago, that's an eternity in consumer electronics technology that works on an 18-24 month product life-cycle. Electronics have an effective half-life. Barring outright failure, its technology sunsets completely within about five or six years. Compare the hardware architecture of a TI-89 Titanium with the Nspire CX II CAS --- or the HP 50g with the Prime G2 (rev D). The difference is dramatic. Development of a 39gII+ on a two year product life cycle for 2013 stopped dead in its tracks when Freescale abandoned the uP that was being used in its design. Recovery from that cataclysm wasn't feasible.

Having worked in the automotive OEM electronics industry for a couple decades, this isn't the first time I've seen that happen. Personally witnessed successful product lines in imminent danger of going down the drain with a 90 day notice from a supplier that they will no longer be producing a critical component. Causes an enormous scramble to sort out how to recover from it. We were lucky to be able to mod things quickly, but our customers didn't like it one iota (livid would be an understatement). It's why the companies in that industry will impose procurement contracts guaranteeing supply for at least 10 years, if they have the financial leverage on procurement volume to impose it. That's become rare now, with the ubiquity of "smart" cell phones, tablets, TVs, toasters, refrigerators, ovens, door locks, doorbells, and all the other IoT devices that drive the electronics components industry. They're the 600 pound gorillas in the marketplace. Everyone else is a small player and component suppliers will be glad to sell parts to them, but you can't impose any special requirements on them as easily now as in the past. It's often: "Here's our catalog of products; take it or leave it; if you want something that's listed in it, call us".

Regarding what are now called the "STEM" professions, those of us in them are using Matlab, Mathematica, Minitab, Excel, etc., on desktop and laptop PCs. The calculator is a secondary device to have handy for quick and dirty rough calculations on the fly, or some on location analyses when a laptop isn't available or feasible. Many use a shirt pocket scientific. Rarely is a calculator used as a primary device in "Cubeville" office engineering, engineering development "labs" or in research "labs", in which PCs and laptops are ubiquitous. HP didn't "give up" the professional science and engineering market, it evaporated. Didn't happen overnight and HP sadly ignored the marketplace evolution. It's much easier to use a PC with a large screen, a mouse, and a full-size QWERTY keyboard that includes a separate number pad. Just worked on an optimization problem using the 50g (differentiation of some trig functions defining a relationship to solve for the zeroes which would identify the maxima). Entering in lengthy equations and values on the calculator keyboard was painful compared to a desktop or laptop PC. Many, especially the older ones like me, may have a graphing calculator around in the desk, but ask those that have them how often it's actually used beyond relatively simple equations and calculations.

On the other hand TI didn't ignore the shifting market, and now has their product line completely entrenched in the US education system with school administrations, teachers and textbook publishers. TI has national education conventions and holds on-line seminars for teachers, administrators and textbook publishers, and gives out achievement awards to them. Google for TI's annual T3 International Conference. T3 = Teachers Teaching with Technology. Been going on 30 years now. This creates a monstrous and expensive barrier to change with the TI-84 in numerous iterations, and now the Nspire, embedded in everything. Convince a math or science teacher, who has developed curricula and teaching materials using the TI-84 keyboard and keystrokes to redo everything they've developed over the years for a different calculator, and to do it on their own time, and at their own expense. Not going to happen.

Saw the remark about the Prime being a "pimped up education calculator". First, it's much more powerful than the TI-84 Plus CE, which is the current make and model of choice now for secondary education. HP has no comparable product to compete with it. The Prime G2 (rev D) and Nspire CX II CAS, HP's and TI's flagships, are roughly on par with each other. They're overkill for most secondary education until students reach more advanced calculus topics. They're best suited for post-secondary and university students. Second, the education market is the cash cow. With the entrenchment TI has in North America, HP is pursuing the European market in which TI doesn't have nearly the domination. Going where the competition is weaker makes sense strategically. A brute force frontal assault on the US education market would be an exercise in very expensive futility.

Regarding the HP 48 line with its 49 and 50g successors, there is no viable market for them any more. I don't see HP generating a successor for the 50g. The minuscule sales volume wouldn't justify the non-recurring development cost. The TI-89 Titanium may still be in production after fifteen years, but I don't give it long before it's dropped from TI's product portfolio with no replacement. I'm surprised it made it this long. Their Nspire is in its third major hardware revision since its introduction in 2007.

John