
HP begins TouchPad clearance with $99 fire sale - evo_9
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/08/19/hp_begins_touchpad_clearance_with_99_fire_sale.html
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runjake
I just got one for free about a week ago. I don't mean to dance on its grave,
but I wouldn't pay $50 for one.

I don't find most of the UI beautiful or elegant, most of it was too dark and
reminded me of those first ugly mobile Linux GUIs , some of WebOS is quite
well-designed, pretty, and usable, though.

The big issue for me is how long it took to load things, be they apps,
websites, or search results. Whereas, the iPad 2 does everything just about
instantaneously, it was a 3 second wait for anything to happen on the
TouchPads. Those 3 second lags really add up on annoyance after a little
while.

I wanted to believe, but in the end, it seems I was right.

~~~
dangrossman
Compared to what else you can buy for $50 (not a single comparably sized
tablet I know of), you still wouldn't find it worthwhile? It's fair to compare
it to an iPad 2 at its original price, but at $99 that's not what it has to
beat.

~~~
SoftwareMaven
Using it for nothing more than a digital frame and movie player would cover
the $99 price.

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mgkimsal
Already seeing these out of stock. Not all the surprising, but had they just
sold these at, say, $199 (or even $249) they'd have flown off the shelves.
People would put up with some flaws/kinks for something with promise.

What would that have done for HP?

Well... they'd likely have lost money on each one. But... they'd have had a
much larger market of consumers and developers. Even better, they may have
been able to establish some footholds in verticals that android or ipad might
be establishing.

"But wait! They can't lose $X on every unit and still be profitable!". In the
short term, probably not. But... they've got profits from other divisions that
could have propped this up while they established marketshare. Microsoft's
done this quite successfully over the years in some markets.

Instead of charging $499, then planning to spend millions in marketing, just
cut the price to cost, and let the product do the talking. I _wanted_ one of
these, as did several people I know. But $499... was simply too much for a
late contender. But rather than overcharging then trying to bolster demand for
it via marketing/ads, they could have cut the price.

It's pretty clear that at $99, they're selling out, even without the chance of
any future updates/patches or even mass market utility. $199-$249 and pretty
much no marketing costs would have still guaranteed a large market for this,
and set the stage for HP to be a real contender in this space.

I guess that's thinking way too much outside the box though... Yes, it's
speculation, but it would have been a much stronger alternative than how it
ended up, and left HP with a chance to grow here. :/

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alexbell
If anybody sees legit links for $99, please post. I was going to get an iPad,
but for $99...

Edit: spelling. I can't type.

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ja27
Lots of success reports on this thread - 32gig model for $135-ish (plus tax?)

[http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/9a3e7678-7eb1-4b7f-88ea-...](http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/9a3e7678-7eb1-4b7f-88ea-73f2acd4d0a6/hp-
touchpad-16gb-99-and-32gb-149-selloff-starts-8-20?page=4&sort=oldest)

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matdwyer
In Canada Future Shop, Bestbuy, & The Source all sold out online, but may get
more stock. In store they are available, but good luck finding stock.

In the USA apparently HP direct has updated their pricing - they likely have
the most stock, so I'd suggest calling/ordering from them first.

I have an iPad & iPad2 already, but I'll pick up one or two of these. I find
tablets handy to keep around, keep in the car, etc. Hell, even as a Christmas
present you'd be the most popular guy in the office giving these out ;-)

Some ideas for what you can use them for:

Easy browsing on roadtrips (wifi from your phone) Picture Frame/Video player
Taking Notes Viewing photos Games on flight, etc.

At $99 this is a no brainer for me, but I get a lot of gadgets

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dangrossman
At $99 I'm sure I could find a use for one. Low price GeckoBoard/Leftronic
mini status board? Good looking digital photo frame?

~~~
lachyg
These would rock Geckoboard pretty well I imagine, or any dashboard app. Might
consider getting one now...

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SoftwareMaven
This is really tempting, but the thought of being left with no security
updates, no app support, etc., is concerning.

What are the odds of Android being able to show up on it?

~~~
mortenjorck
Valid concerns indeed, but I don't get the desire to install Android on these.
It feels kind of like buying a MacBook Pro to install Windows on... if MacBook
Pros were built like mid-range Inspirons.

~~~
dangrossman
If Apple had just announced they were going to stop making computers and were
discounting the rest of their stock by 80%, you'd see a lot of people buying
them to install Windows on.

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fishtastic
Sold out online at future shop, was going to get one. I could try door
crashing the store tomorrow and see if they still have the one for demo...

[http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/hewlett-packard-
hp-16...](http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/hewlett-packard-hp-16gb-
touchpad-with-wi-fi-16gb-
wifi/10173116.aspx?path=01191e3f32fb2966d8a052fd3272bd05en02)

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Tiktaalik
Hmm a store near me still has some in stock. I'm actually considering picking
one up. The Ars review notes the poor Flash performance as one of the main
negatives. Is there any way to disable Flash in the browser?

~~~
mortenjorck
The browser has a built-in ClickToFlash-esque feature that you can enable.

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clownzor
Was up coding while monitoring a few sites and saw that Walmart had updated
their prices and that my local one had some in stock. Made it to the store in
time to get the last two.

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donohoe
This worked for me in the last 30 minutes (9:30pm PST aprox)

1\. Go here: <https://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/register_epp.do>

2\. Register a new EPP account using company code: EP4297

3\. Don’t click on anything, instead click on this link (32GB):
[http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/FB35...](http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/FB359UA%2523ABA)

4\. If you buy one (for ($149.00) use this coupon for $15 off: SAVE15HP

4B. If you more than buy one use this coupon for $30 off: SAVE30HP

~~~
dangrossman
It's already out of stock. Plus, it's not cool to use someone else's corporate
discount (isn't that the US Army's code?).

~~~
donohoe
Not sure I entirely agree but to each their own.

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HaloZero
I believe the sale starts on 7 AM eastern time at HP.com. They still have them
in stock.

~~~
dangrossman
It's already out on the 'deal sites' with thousands of comments and over a
million views. People are buying them through HP Academy and HP EPP. Amazon
had the lower price briefly then went back to $398, probably sold out whoever
offered it at less instantly. The 16GB is already sold out at HP direct. By
7AM they won't have any 32GB left to sell either.

Edit: HP.com sold out of all models in around half an hour. Every other store
that had it at the reduced price sold out in minutes. I suppose it's
impossible, but gotta wonder if anyone at HP will be reconsidering the
decision to dispose of WebOS when their TouchPads are sold out nationwide in
less than a day.

~~~
VeryStuck
WebOS's value will never be higher. Let the bidding begin.

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gojomo
Has anyone ported Android to it yet?

~~~
drgath
Why replace it with an inferior OS?

~~~
CrazedGeek
The inferior OS will have better support going forward, and a more impressive
library of applications right now?

WebOS might be better now, but definitely not in a year.

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justincormack
Cant see any sign of discounting in the UK yet...

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diziet
Office Depot seems to have the 32gb ones for 150.

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whyenot
thewiz.com still has the 32gb model in stock for $149

edit: sold out :(

~~~
noahc
When I try to add it to my cart, they tell me it has been removed.

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parbo
Are they also clearing the PC:s? I wouldn't mind an HP Envy..

~~~
dangrossman
No, HP is not going to stop making PCs, unlike tablets. They're just spinning
off the division.

~~~
parbo
Ok. I thought there would be no more PC:s with the HP name. Thanks for the
down-votes though!

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crag
Why would anyone buy one? It's a door stop.

~~~
alexbell
I just want a tablet sized web browser to read HN in bed before I fall asleep.
Hard to justify $499 on that.

~~~
rednaught
Not only browsing but one cheap e-reader(Kindle App or the Cloud Reader).

~~~
evoltix
Yep. You can't beat a $99 tablet that has a _colored_ Kindle app.

