We have previously talked about HP killing WebOS devices (and effectively WebOS itself.) After the news of HP discontinuing TouchPad and other WebOS offerings, the company announced a fire-sale on the recently launched TouchPad thus giving them away for $99 (16GB) and $149 (32GB) via HP.com / BestBuy and other retailers. The ones who bought TouchPad for a higher rate before are also eligible for a refund of the difference. HP is apparently taking a $100+ million hits for this.
BestBuy and other store locations are under pressure to meet the sudden demand for TouchPads from across the globe. Several friends on my twitter timeline have ordered multiple HP TouchPads and have delivered it some relatives place in US. It’s clear that nobody wants to leave a Rs 5000 worth tablet that runs a respectable OS along with a Dualcore CPU. Projects to get Android on TouchPad are already initiated and sooner or later it would happen for sure. And while stocks at BestBuy and other retailer locations dry up, marking an end of life for the WebOS tablet, resellers are making hay while HP loses its shine.
Several vendors on eBay US and Amazon.com are selling the TouchPad for over $200. These have to be the same units that are being liquidated at $99 as HP even with all the discounts previously, never sold the TouchPad for below $300. We also expect several of these units to reach India / HK and sell for over $200 or more value, and it clearly shows that, irrespective of the platform quality, apps and superhit reviews, people are buying a cheaper tablet. For now, HP, probably is the new Santa Claus, we only wonder, if they had sold the TouchPad to begin with at $299 and ‘supercharged’ WebOS instead of burning it like this.
