After announcing that they would end production on their possible “iPad-killer,” Hewlett-Packard decided to change their mind. Last Tuesday the company ended all production on the new tablet released only in early July. To sell the now extinct tablet HP dropped the price of their 32 GB device from nearly $600 to $149, and dropped their 16 GB from around $400 to $99.
The main reason for HP dropping the business was the competition. Rumor has it that the company, famous for its printers and software, could not and would not compete with the iPad, although many analysts saw it as the great white hope of tablets. Its operating system, WebOS, has been greatly reviewed with techies even in its infantile stage and many were sad to see it go.
Once the tablet went on sale for nearly 75% off retail price, they were sold out everywhere. Supply was actually not meeting demand because of these sell-outs, a pleasant surprise for the tech giant. This has forced them to temporarily begin production all over again. Unfortunately they have lost a great deal of money on the venture, and will not be making much on the short time reproduction of the TouchPad.
Those who have bought a TouchPad already, however, will be happy to know that this sell-out means big things for WebOS. Now that so many devices are out and being used, application creators and programmers will begin creating for the operating system. More users mean more money, which means more apps!
This is also an advantage because more device users increase the value of the WebOS for potential buyers like Research in Motion, Samsung, and Amazon.com. It is all good news for those who snatched up a TouchPad on sale, and mostly bad news for HP. That is, unless they throw their hat back in the ring completely.