HP TouchPad: Hewlett-Packard Announces Another Batch Of WebOS Tablets

The recently deceased HP TouchPads are rising from the dead, slowly creeping toward America...

In a blog post on the company's site, HP Social Media Strategist Mark Budgell announced that Hewlett-Packard is manufacturing more of its discontinued TouchPads to meet newfound "unfulfilled demand."

On timing and quantity, Budgell had this to say:

We don’t know exactly when these units will be available or how many we’ll get, and we can’t promise we’ll have enough for everyone. We do know that it will be at least a few weeks before you can purchase...A limited supply are coming and it will be a few weeks before they are available. As we know more about how, when, and where TouchPads will be available, we will communicate that here and through email to those who requested notification.

This may be the absolute final batch of TouchPads, as Budgell says that HP "is discontinuing the development of webOS devices and is winding down device operations within our fourth fiscal quarter 2011," which ends October 31. On the other hand, some think that the TouchPad could get a new lease on life if HP spins off its PC business. During an interview with Reuters, HP's Personal Systems Group head Todd Bradley spoke about the possibility of a spinoff and spoke about the importance of tablets: "Tablet computing is a segment of the market that's relevant, absolutely."

As for price of the next batch of TouchPads, the HP blog says that it will be up to the retailers, and it is unclear whether HP will offer the $99 price point that led to such buyer demand in the first place.

Following incredible demand for the discounted units,Fast Company recently reported that, thanks to the fire sale, the Touchpad "could soon be the second best-selling tablet of all time"; though, considering HP only initially shipped between 500,000 and 1 million Touchpads during their initial run, the HP tablet is still far behind the iPad, which has sold 28.7 million units, according to recent data released by Forrester.

Those interested in the device should follow the HP Next Bench blog, which will continue to make announcements about the availability of the next (and possibly final) batch of tablets. You can also check out SlickDeals.net, which features current HP TouchPad offerings around the web.

Comments

[MIKEinNYC]

09:28 PM on 09/01/2011

What a marketing gimmick! Saying that you're discontinuing production spurs demand. Like the New Coke/Old Coke affair.

[MB1East]

07:02 PM on 09/01/2011

If HP had half a brain they would make a ton more, sell them at a loss, then announce they are back in the game with a v2 of the hardware. The OS was great, but the hardware was a step behind. They would gain a ton of market share, and the money lost on the tablets would be made up later on once they positioned themselves as the new and only iPad competitor.

[Max Shaw]

04:40 PM on 09/01/2011

Hope is not lost! I want one [still]!

[Bushido08]

02:12 PM on 09/01/2011

The real lesson here is that if you make a product that is competitively priced and it offers basicially the same features, you can win a lot of customers. A majority of customers only loyality may be to their wallet. Another case in point, when the Koreans got into the car manufacturing game. My first thoughts was, good luck, you're competing in a market that the Japanese have all but sewn up. But, they priced their vehicals cheap, improved on the design, and after a number of years of not making a real profit have become a big competitor.

Apple being a gadet driven company had better heed what just happened and realize their days may be numbered unless they can keep coming up with the next best gadget.

[Titus Pullo]

01:54 PM on 09/01/2011

Put a good upgradable browser on a quality tablet with a 9 x 11 high resolution screen. Done. Offer a wifi and an everything version if you want, but ditch the app store/music tie-in nonsense and go browser only.

Sell a wifi version for 249 and it would fly off shelves and still make money.

[mmike1969]

01:10 AM on 09/01/2011

HP=Useless.
This thing will be obsolete when the next generation of devices comes out from the real players in the market. WebOS is not being supported by App developers so why bother?

Now, combine the tablet with the Pre3 and you sell me both for under $200 then I might consider it.

I have been a Palm user since I bought a 3x to several Treo's to the Pre so I am a supporter of the Palm name. Not any longer.

[Bushido08]

02:17 PM on 09/01/2011

Interesting comment...I wonder if the WebOS developers think the same. The ones I've spoken to love it and are sad that they may not have an opportunity to work on it right away. Have you really tried the tablet? Have you seen how it works with multi-tasking?

Have you ever had your PC or tablet freeze because you had too many apps running at the same time...not with WebOS?

[MB1East]

07:00 PM on 09/01/2011

But for $99 who cares? You can do email and surf the web, plus things like movies music and photos. That's all that most people do with tablets. Sure, the apps are great. But save $400 and get 80% of the usability.

[JackTheSkipper]

10:26 PM on 08/31/2011

To all those geniuses who ask why do people buy this discontinued products, a majority of the people use desktop/laptop/netbook to read emails, surf the web and create word/excel documents. Hauling around a laptop is a huge inconvenient. Plus, anytime you want to use the aforementioned devices, you need to wait for the OS to boot up and load drivers and other cr4p$. While they have their limitations, *pads have their advantages that laptops can't match. A single press on the power button immediately takes you to the home screen. You are checking your emails in less than 5 seconds provided you have a wifi connection. Apps are luxuries that most people can live without. Combination of low price and regular usage is driving the HP touchpad frenzy. If a company can come up with the a tablet for $150 with the comparable hardware, it can b/tch slap and unseat the iPad in no time.

[Bushido08]

02:19 PM on 09/01/2011

See my comments above...totally agree! Watch out Apple...someone has just exposed your vulnerability!!

[JAVA VB]

09:30 PM on 08/31/2011

well i think that ipad is monopolising the market of tablettes since it is more efficiennt as far as hardware and software is concerned !

[Uptown83]

08:28 PM on 08/31/2011

I hope to get one of these for 99 bucks.. hell of a deal. Ive been looking into buying a android tablet a lot lately and giving the ol ipad 2 to the wife. I like my ipad but its lacking in the some of the simplest ways.

[Scott Moser]

07:14 PM on 08/31/2011

This run of Touchpads will mostly go to those who have already had their orders confirmed by HP. The HP Touchpad has over $300 worth of parts and the company cannot afford to sell them for $175-$215 under the manufacturing cost.

WebOS is a fine operating system for now, but in the near future, owners will be able to switch over to a version of the Android OS. I will wait for Ice Cream Sandwich, since Gingerbread is not really much of an upgrade over WebOS, expect for available apps.

[W Placher Sieben]

07:01 PM on 08/31/2011

Where are people going to get apps for these in 6 months??? I'm all for people getting a deal and I love my tablet, but HP has pulled the plug on their WebOS operating system. I don't see anyone developing applications for these. They'll look great in the closet shelf right next to that BetaMax VCR!

[Icyunvme]

07:08 PM on 08/31/2011

For the most part apps are created by independent developers and now that there is a large group of people willing to purchase apps developers will make apps for this mostly untapped market. H.P. did not pull the plug on their WebOS just on the hardware they are using WebOS in other hardware like printers and so on...

[W Placher Sieben]

07:23 PM on 08/31/2011

I totally agree with your point that it's programmers not developers that write the apps, and they've sold a sizable number of tables, but the question is, "is there enough of a market?" I realize the programming required for mobile tablet apps is significantly simpler, but if you're a programmer are you going to write for an Android sized audience or a WebOS audience. Have you ever heard of any programs written for TopView? TopView was IBM's version of Windows, it came out first, and there were a sizable number of computers running it. All programming for TopView applications stopped afterward IBM pulled the plug even though some of it's code made it's way into OS/2. I guess only time will tell on this one...

[DarenTx]

09:11 PM on 08/31/2011

They aren't killing WebOS. They are just exiting the consumer market for tablets. They very well may license WebOS to other companies for use on their products.

Besides....Apps are nice but what most people want is the ability to check email and browse the web. Apps aren't necessary for that.

With Google's recent purchase of Motorola some manufacturers may be looking for alternative to Android to hedge their bets. WebOS might fit that need nicely.

BTW, I am typing this on my brand new $99 HP Touchpad. The interface and the browser beats my Android tablet hands down. The Flash integration is by far better as well.

[Bruce Negron]

05:54 PM on 08/31/2011

What's frightening is that they are still making a small profit on $99 and $149. Which means what a major job they are doing on consumers if $400+ are worth a fraction. No wonder apple keeps making "new" with $500+ profit per iPad. I should started a computer company. How much do these cost to make in China $25???!

[worldtrav]

06:54 PM on 08/31/2011

Marginal profit is not product profit - but I take your point.

[Lady Feminist]

05:06 PM on 08/31/2011

The HP Touchpad is not worth more than $100 bucks. I purchased one when they first came out for $650. It's nothing more than an ereader with internet capabilities. And, while you can get your kindle books, you can't get magazine subscriptions, so it's an inferior ereader at that. Most of the apps were created for their Palm cell phone, which means they are very small; and if you're over 40, good luck being able to read them. I returned mine. Would I pay $100 for one now? Well, that depends on whether it's going to work once they get rid of WebOS. I haven't seen an answer for that yet.

[MaddHavikk]

04:54 PM on 08/31/2011

I hate I missed this sale. I know the Android community is going to have a custom Android Rom loaded on there in no time. If they put out more at that price, I'll definitely be buying a couple. But the iPad is still better, lol. (sorry had 2 put that in there somewhere)

[DarenTx]

09:19 PM on 08/31/2011

I already have a tablet with a custom Android rom based on Gingerbread. It sucks. I prefer WebOS by a large margin.

When Ice Cream Sandwich is available I might entertain installing that. But in the meantime I am quite happy with WebOS. Less Apps but a better browser and better Flash support.

Typed on a $99 HP Touchpad.

[PhillyKing]

04:11 PM on 08/31/2011

keep the price low and they'll have agreat install base for devs... but the original price had waaay too many better options.