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Anyone else snag a TouchPad during the fire sale?

32GB HP tablets which were $500 here are now $150. I'm tempted to get one by the fact that the XDA devs might port Android 3.* sooner or later. I'm not 100% going to get one but is there anyone here going to make the gamble?
 
Rumors are HP has been surprised with the units sold at the discounted price, and may continue production and sales at this pricepoint. They have gone from just 25k units sold prior to the reduction to over 250k over a 2 day period. This allowed webOS to have a wider than initially expected user base and has made HP rethink their strategy. Speculation is that HP plans to sell any units sent back by big box stores (I.e. best buy, etc.) on their website, initially filling back orders and then selling them outright, with the possibility that the may go into another production run with the aggresive price point remaining in tact.
 
HP will not continue to make the Touchpad and sell it at $99 and $149. There is no way in seven hells they or anyone else could make any money at all at that point. Sure the things sell like hotcakes, but they are taking a bath in ever sale without any hope at recouping that cost. The only one who could possibly make up that loss might be Amazon because they have an entire ecosystem already in place with content. HP does not.
 
They could do it. Look at the model that video game consoles use. It's about the user base and growing the the OS from there. Hell they now have a 1/4 million installed user base. Someone with any sort of vision could easily turn that into something more.
 
If they had an established app store like Apple or the Android Market, then the low price point could probably be subsidized by the slew of apps that would be purchased. However, going that route would be pure speculation, and I don't see HP taking a gamble like that. If this was possible and sustainable, Apple probably would have done it by now. Just my .02.
 
TheGoatLantern said:
They could do it. Look at the model that video game consoles use. It's about the user base and growing the the OS from there. Hell they now have a 1/4 million installed user base. Someone with any sort of vision could easily turn that into something more.
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But HP has no established ecosystem. Microsoft gets a cut of every game that's sold on XBox. Sony gets a cut of every game that's sold on PS3. HP does not have a store that sells any sort of media. They would take a bath in sales of the units and not have any way to make it up. There is just no way they could sell enough apps to make up for that much of a loss.

Amazon, on the other hand, could get away with something like that. They sell digital books, magazines, music, VOD and apps. They have many, many ways to make up for the loss on hardware. So does Apple for that matter. HP does not.
 
Dahlen said:
If they had an established app store like Apple or the Android Market, then the low price point could probably be subsidized by the slew of apps that would be purchased. However, going that route would be pure speculation, and I don't see HP taking a gamble like that. If this was possible and sustainable, Apple probably would have done it by now. Just my .02.
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Apple could pull it off, but has no reason to. It sells it's iPad as a premium device and people are more than willing to fork over the money for it.
 
Almost a moot point bc they "say" that they are leaving the PC/Tablet biz. I think that this "manna from above" will simply give them some working capital to put into their server ventures. The big news in this is how many ppl are interested in porting the HP to Android so that if/when WebOS bites the dust, the lil bugger lives on. Me likey!
 
My Touchpad comes in tomorrow. Can anyone who got one suggest any must have apps? I'm making a list of the types of apps I have to have.
 
I was told they were sold out locally, happened quickly for obvious reasons. Now I noticed a local store chain is selling them for $399 in a local flyer saying "Save $100!". Scammers.
 
NowVoyager said:
They sold practically none before. Now, I'd call *that* a huge loss.
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Sure, but saying that selling them at $99 and $149 is like saying it's amazing that you're getting smashed in the head because before you were getting smashed in the groin.
 
Mostly Harmless said:
Got mine on Friday and absolutely loving it, the hardware is very nice, even webOS is a really nice piece of software but I am still hoping they get Android on it.
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Any must-have apps? I found some stuff on line about how to root it, make it run faster, etc, etc.... My plan is to just use it straight out of the box and see if it's really as laggy as people claim it is and if the app catalog is as limited as the pundits claim. If I'm happy with it, I'll leave it at that. If I'm not, then I'll start tweaking it. I have no plans to put Android on it. I already have a 7" Galaxy Tab running Android. I wouldn't have bought the Touchpad at all if it wasn't so damn cheap. I go nuts for bargains.
 
A.Nonymous said:
Any must-have apps? I found some stuff on line about how to root it, make it run faster, etc, etc.... My plan is to just use it straight out of the box and see if it's really as laggy as people claim it is and if the app catalog is as limited as the pundits claim. If I'm happy with it, I'll leave it at that. If I'm not, then I'll start tweaking it. I have no plans to put Android on it. I already have a 7" Galaxy Tab running Android. I wouldn't have bought the Touchpad at all if it wasn't so damn cheap. I go nuts for bargains.
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Still looking though the apps myself. You need to update it to 3.0.2, which can be done through the tablet itself but you have to just keep pressing the update button because it fails over and over again, but evenually I got all the way through it.

Accuweather HD for Touchpad is a nice app (you need 3.0.2 to get this), they have some nice news apps (which is a major plus for me), and some games also.

It is pretty damn fast out of the box. The interface is really smooth and I must say that I am actually enjoying my webOS experience. The browsing is very smooth and every website I have been too has come up without any glitches. It is very easy to get use to, you will be flying through it in the first few minutes.

I am going to be following the directions in this thread:

http://forums.precentral.net/hp-touchpad/293028-new-touchpad-heres-your-get-started-guide.html

because from what I have read it really makes a difference. If they do come out with a good Android port I would definitely try it, android on this hardware would be so awesome.

Also speaking of hardware, this thing is really really nice. The screen is bright and crisp, the touch screen is acurate and responsive and the battery seems to last forever. I really don't have any compliants.

I got the 32GB model and for $149 I really couldn't ask for me. The only thing that is really missing for me is a choice in ereaders. They have the kindle but I much rather be with the nook software or google books.
 
So you assessment is that HP had a serious iPad competitor but it was priced too high? How does it compare with an Android tablet? I've found the Android experience doesn't port over to tablets very well. There's just something missing there. I love my Galaxy Tab, but it's not as smooth an experience as using an iPad. Android is an awesome phone OS, but on a tablet, I'm not completely sold yet.
 
@Mostly - I'm glad that you got your hands on it finally. Some ppl will never be convinced and that's okay. The world will keep spinning.

Even at it's original price, it was competitive but no one seemed to want to take the plunge into WebOS. And given HP's decision to drop support and hardware, it was wise not to have plunked $400 or more on the unit. But @ $99, that is a whole new ball of wax. Thanks for your review and for the link to the root thread!
 
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