HP Touchpad Sale: Apparent HP Internal Email Says $99 Tablet Headed To Ebay On December 11

The $99 HP Touchpad tablet is turning into the McRib of technology: Available for a limited time, then disappearing, then available again, and then disappearing, ad infinitum.

The latest development in the ill-fated Touchpad's on-again/off-again availability is that Hewlett-Packard is apparently putting more of its discontinued tablets on sale for $99, starting the evening of December 11.

The sale was not intended for the general public, at least initially. HP told its employees in what appears to be an internal email that it would be selling refurbished Touchpads for $99 starting Sunday, December 11, at 6:00 PM CST; HP employees would have the first go at the tablets, and if there were any left, the public would be informed on the morning of December 12. That changed when the email leaked out to several publications.

From that email, via TechCrunch:

In an effort to give HP employees first chance at a very limited supply of refurbished TouchPads, there will be a short delay between when the product is posted live for sale on eBay and when the general public is notified of the sale.

Refurbished HP TouchPads, both 16GB and 32GB versions, will be posted for sale through the HP eBay store at: 6:00 p.m. (Central Time), Sunday, December 11th. If you are interested in purchasing a refurbished TouchPad, please make yourself a reminder to log-on to eBay a few minutes before the sale starts to make your purchase.

The TouchPads will be available for sale here (under “Laptops”):

http://stores.ebay.com/hewlettpackard

Also of note, from the email:

1. There will be 16GB Touchpads (for $99) and 32GB Touchpads (for $149). There is a limit of two per customer and the purchase must be made through Paypal.
2. If you already have a Touchpad, a bundle containing a case, charging dock and laptop will also be available for $69.
3. The new Touchpads will ONLY be available on HP's eBay store here.
4. The newly available Touchpads were going to be announced to the general public on the morning of December 12.

It will be interesting to see if Hewlett-Packard changes the timing of the sale to give employees early access once again, given that the first email found its way to the public.

Could this, once and for all, be the last Touchpad fire sale?

After discontinuing its tablet in August after it was on the shelves for just under three months, HP offered the Touchpad for $99 in an attempt to sell off as much inventory as it could; this led to a buying frenzy as bargain-hunters tried everything to get a cheap tablet. After the initial run, HP launched another sale later that week; following that, Touchpads had been popping up at different retailers for months. HP had announced that another run of Touchpads were coming soon in a company blog post at the end of October, and it appears that those tablets are completed and ready to be sold.

Hewlett-Packard has not yet commented on the upcoming Touchpad sale nor commented on the validity of the email; until it does, keep in mind that the Touchpad is supposedly headed for the HP eBay store on Sunday, December 11, at 7 PM EST/6 CST.

BlackBerry-maker RIM has also seen success with the huge holiday markdown on its PlayBook tablet. RIM's price slash brought PlayBook base units down to $199 from $499, and retailers reportedly sold out within days. However, the PlayBook's overall success hasn't been what RIM expected, and the company announced on December 2 that it would be taking a pre-tax charge of $485 million for its recently closed third quarter.

Another iPad competitor, the Dell Streak 7, may not be long for this world. According to reports, manufacturer Dell may be discontinuing the device.

Comments

[caryberry]

04:11 AM on 12/12/2011

Ebay must have gotten up very early on Sunday morning to start planning how to totally @#$% the HP Touchpad sale deal. Crazy beyond stupid. Whether you selected "buy it now" or "put in my shopping cart" - those initiatives generally lead you NO FRIGGIN WHERE. Error messages ran the gambit of "no such item", "system error - try again", "your momma wears army boots", or some other useless do-do. After calling twice and being promptly dismissed as Ebay was way to busy to chat at the moment - the 3rd time was the charm with only 37 minutes of bad Musak.

I was told that Ebay was having some unexpected system problems and that it would be Monday AM before it could be resolved. Yes, there are items in my 'shopping cart' ready for money - just not today. I tried to be nice and understanding...the beer helped a lot.

[Doug Cowley]

08:52 PM on 12/11/2011

What a fiasco that sale turned out to be...

It went live at 7PM EST or just a second or two after -- and promptly just about blew up Ebay -- clicking on "buy it now" got you "waiting for offer.ebay" messages, etc. for 5 or 10 minutes, and if you got by that you encountered similar messages delaying your payment. After about 20 minutes (really) of all that nonsense, Ebay presented you with messages like "No such item" or a complicated statement with the same info...BUT IF you managed to get all the way through right up to paying through PayPal (the required mechanism for payment), Ebay took the Touchpad out of the deal and allowed you to pay only for the extended warranty!

All in all, a dog's breakfast.

Boo to HP and especially a very loud boo to Ebay!

[jonathan6773]

07:01 PM on 12/11/2011

Their website crashed at exactly 6PM (Central time). Stinks.

[KarateKid]

10:41 PM on 12/09/2011

Anybody want to buy my iPaq?

[ifyouseekay]

11:43 AM on 12/09/2011

i had my name on the list to get an available pad. what happened to the list? no wonder hp failed! can't seem to sell even crap!!

[jfbuf]

11:06 PM on 12/08/2011

I was on the email list, what ever happen to that list

[Chuck-E]

06:40 PM on 12/08/2011

God, I hope they continue to "McRib" these tablets. The iPad is too cool for school, and too expensive for anyone who realizes we're in a new economy.

Sony learned the same sad story that Apple is going to learn (without Steve Jobs as a charismatic face for the company), which is that people get sick and tired of paying a fortune for the "name" when the actual product is only as good as (or bested) by others who charge far less and innovate far more. (cf. Samsung Galaxy vs. iPhone4S.)

Keep 'em coming, Meg.........I'll be able to give them to my nieces at that price (and even keep one for myself.)

I love Apple; always have, but if they want to be the Rolls Royce of the tech market, they're gonna have to learn to accept the market share that goes with it. (Ah, little Mac Chime, we hardly knew ye, and you were gone.)

[massimo1]

06:02 PM on 12/08/2011

HP is so stupid. At $99. they have a market winner here. Even at $149 or $199, considering what an iPad or other major brand pad costs. I don't count the nook or kindle, as they are quite limited in what they can really do. HP should keep on making the touchpad and keep updating it's OS.

[MIMom]

09:08 PM on 12/08/2011

I agree with you about their pricing strategy, but it's still running on Palm OS. If HP made it an Android tablet...

[FreelanceWriter]

05:52 PM on 12/08/2011

>> Huffer07: "When are these manufactur­ers going to realize that people either want very inexpensive tablets, or an iPad. Not much room for much else."

>> William Unverferth: "Kindle fire outsold iPad on launch. People want a good deal. Many view the iPad as too expensive and just won't pay."

Consumers want something that dazzles them, and want it at a low price. Which is pretty much the definition for how American consumers like ALL their products.

Yes, there will always be that car enthusiast who HAS to spend hundreds of thousands on an imported car, so he can lecture you how much better it is than your lowly car. And in tech, there will always be those who want a super-duper computer that can crush and compile data like no other. But the average person knows when something is "good" (or at least acceptable) and, most important, its at JUST the right buy-in price.

So, sure, the iPad is hot now, especially for Apple disciples -- but they ARE Apple disciples, so they'd buy it anyway. My problem with the iPad is that for what little true computing power it actually has under the hood, tablets need to grow another generation or so. But thankfully, more companies are jumping in given what a growth market its already become. And it will be good to see more competition because that only pushes these companies to make BETTER devices with BETTER abilities for a BROADER spectrum of things.

[FreelanceWriter]

05:30 PM on 12/08/2011

Jeffrey Harder: "Apple will be leading the pack for quite awhile.
They've set the standard, first in smart phones..."

Sorry, but Apple is already falling behind in "setting the standard." No question, the iPhone at it's introduction was a great device, and continued to be so up to the 3G. But everything after that... the 3Gs, 4G, 4Gs... have been modest upgrades at best.

And, frankly, most Tech analysts agree with that assertion, which is why even the recent 4Gs introduction was greeted very lukewarm. Everyone was expecting a MAJOR revamp to warrant a true iPhone 5, and Apple didn't come through.

Now comes word that maybe...MAYBE...the iPhone 5 will be introduced late this summer and it will have a higher resolution screen that will be 4" and be LTE compatible...

...Which means Apple, that company you claim "sets the standard" is now playing catch up with the Samsung Galaxy line that's ALREADY out.

[Dynamata]

02:52 PM on 12/08/2011

Will this offer be available in UK & if so when?

[CreateAnAccount]

12:30 PM on 12/08/2011

HP Touchpad, Materials+Labor=$50
iPad approx $100
Droid phone (all of them) less than $25...again, materials and labor.
iPhone, less than $50.
Sure...go ahead and jack up the price due to R&D...etc...still doesn't come close to covering the price they are gouging you with.

Get out of the country once in a'hwile'...go visit one of these $.10/day quasi-slave labor factory farms spread around the pacific rim...tell ya what...you have a good tech idea...i know a guy, that knows a guy...

Boots on the ground...not links from forbes, businessweek, etc...boots on the ground...you'd be amazed.

[Bishop Coxcomb]

01:59 PM on 12/08/2011

My mind was just blown by your insight.

[Huffer07]

04:17 PM on 12/08/2011

He's wrong. iPad costs about $300 to make. And that's low, thanks to iPad's massive production volumes. Kindle Fire costs $201.70 to make.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/18/kindle-fire-price_n_1101847.html

[Huffer07]

04:24 PM on 12/08/2011

What insight? His numbers are bogus. Amazon sells their Kindle Fire for $200, which is supposed to be at or below cost. But for Amazon, they'll make up for that with sales through the Kindle Fire's store. It's the razor blade strategy: give away the razor, sell the blades. So if the Kindle costs around $200 to make, it's pretty silly to think that the much larger, more powerful Touchpad and iPad cost LESS to make than the Fire.

[Tanrioldu]

02:07 PM on 12/08/2011

So profit margins are evil to you or what?

This is a luxury product, it's not food or gas or electricity. People can chose to buy it or not. And they are obviously choosing the iPad even if it is expensive. Yes apple makes a nice profit margin on it, but they are supplying what people demand. I don't see what the problem is.

[CreateAnAccount]

03:00 PM on 12/08/2011

Philosophically? Would you have no problem buying a product that was created by a child that was chained by the neck to their work station? Not saying any of these gadgets are...but where is "that" line for you? What is acceptable? What of the cost of American jobs? Should we expect an American to work for $1/day to compete with said child? Or should we ignore all of these variables and just Consume (Obey)?

I think this is a worthy discussion...anyone else?

[Chuck-E]

07:03 PM on 12/08/2011

Even *shudder* setting-aside the "China labor/human rights problems," would you say that a telephone or a car is a luxury?

Maybe they were, when they first came out but, now, like the phone and electric lights, etc., this type of technology is virtually required to keep up with the world and work (and I'm retired, so I don't even have to keep up with work.)

To equate an iPad (or its more generic brother "tablets") to a bottle of Dom Perignon is bogus. You can get through a dinner quite nicely without the bubbly, but you DO need a car to get around (in L.A., anyway); and a phone to keep in touch, as well as for emergencies; and electricity is not only handy, but a necessity....just ask the people who lost power for only five days after our last horrible windstorm in L.A.; and that was nothing like what would happen if a 1906-style earthquake hit. Hurricane Katrina, anyone?

If economies of scale can't bring the price of these things down, then something is wrong with the system somewhere (quelle surprise!); we need to figure out a way to turn what's left of our non-renewable reserves into a new, cheaper product.....or, better yet, come up with something made out of a renewable source. One only has to look to George Washington Carver for what could be done with a crummy peanut!

[middleagerage]

12:22 PM on 12/08/2011

As long as a Tablet is no more than a super-sized phone, there is no reason to spend $500 (plus extended warranty) on an iPad...especially if you have an iPhone and a laptop or desktop at home. Tablets are that nice intermediary between computer and smartphone, but still not worth Apple's price. HP made a comparable tablet and it more than delivers. Less apps, but most of the mainstream ones. Web Os is very smooth. At $99, this device is a steal.

[Huffer07]

12:58 PM on 12/08/2011

Good news for you: a tablet aint just a super-sized smart phone. You can do a lot more on a tablet than a phone, just by virtue of its much larger screen size. And unlike a laptop or desktop computer, you can take tablets just about anywhere, their battery lasts practically forever, they never get hot, they are no larger than a magazine, and...well...they are just so much nicer to use. I used to be a big-time PC laptop user. But they are just so much heavier, you have to set them down to use them, can't just hold them in your hand. Plus trackpads aren't as easy to use as simply swiping the screen, and a tablet doesn't need a mouse. Now, I just take my iPad everywhere. I think the people who don't understand tablets, or just say it's no better than a phone have never actually spent time with a tablet. Is it worth the money? Every penny. Why? Because if I actually compare its cost to how much use I get out of it, I'd say that it has earned its price a few times over. Keep an open mind. Tech costs money, but good tech is often worth the money.

[middleagerage]

02:27 PM on 12/08/2011

I have a TP and my girlfriend has an iPad, so I know both devices very well. However, having both devices in our house, the only thing I see superior in the iPad is the number of Apps available. I have an iPhone, and for me, an iPad would be just like having a bigger iPhone. I'd use the same Apps. So I bought a $99 Touchpad for email, web browsing, and the Apps it offers. It more than meets my needs. The Touchpad is not one of those cheap Androids out there. HP had an identity crisis this summer with their former CEO, panicked and dropped the TP line prematurely. Well that guy isfired but the TP took the fall and they put it on the discount line. Greatest deal I have found all year! The TP is actually almost everything the IPad is, except the cultlike following Apple that encourages people to overpay for a tablet.

[someonewhocares2]

04:51 PM on 12/08/2011

try writing a book on it. Try using flash. Its a pad just like it says. It was cleverly placed between a phone and a laptop, being neither. If it could have a pointing deice and run MS office it would have killed laptops.. but no sense making it useful... a tablet is a pad of paper that can surf the net and play games

[snaik69]

12:05 PM on 12/08/2011

i got the touch pad during last sell off....i also have an ipad. Aside from the obvious, Ipad far more stable. Touch pad is alright but has crashed on me a few times already...

[luvbrothel]

11:28 AM on 12/08/2011

There seems to be only one tablet Apple is concerned with, and that's the Samsung Galaxy. Its beautiful. While all these other tablets drop off, Samsung may be waiting for the market to thin out before dropping their price a bit.

[Banghouse]

02:44 PM on 12/08/2011

Asus Transformer Prime looks pretty appealing.

[WatchingYouBuddy]

05:14 PM on 12/08/2011

PRIME DESTROYS THE IPAD2. TWICE AS GOOD