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.