HP drops WebOS devices, has fire sale overnight

[gearhead05]

For anyone still looking to pick one up or get info, this is the website that I have been following.

http://justindeals.com/hp-touchpad-tabl ... ts-status/

Also, HP has updated the Home section and should be getting the next (final?) shipment in soon. I'll save you the trouble post the link for that as well

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopp ... aoid=35252

Load up the page and keep hitting refresh every couple of minutes and maybe you'll get lucky!

[PoorManQ45]

my brother works at cdw, bought a handful on monday at that price.

would you be willing to part with one of them for a non overinflated price?

[simmode1]

For anyone still looking to pick one up or get info, this is the website that I have been following.

http://justindeals.com/hp-touchpad-tabl ... ts-status/

Watching like a hawk...

[Kompresshun]

Mine just arrived! Woohoo!

[gearhead05]

Mine just arrived! Woohoo!

Lucky bastard

I put in my order through HP's Small & Medium Business section and am still not certain I will get mine. First my order was approved, then it got canceled, then I got a confirmation email and it now says an estimated ship date of 8/28. I still have to wait a couple of days to truly know if I will be getting mine or not

[Jesda]

After this HP tablet frenzy, I was inspired to buy a 32GB iPad off Cowboom.com (as well as a Thinkpad for grown-up things)

Should be here today or Tuesday.

[Kompresshun]

So far i'm liking the Touchpad, the interface is very slick and works well. I already activated Developer Mode and installed Preware, so I made some popular speed tweaks and overclocked it to 1.5ghz(which makes it FAST). I haven't installed many Homebrew apps yet, but I hope to see some more apps rolling out soon in the HP App store. There's a decent selection already, but i'm missing a few core apps that I like to have on all of my devices unfortunately

Overall though, i'm pleased with it, even if a few apps that I would like to have are missing. All I do is browse the internet, read e-mail, chat on AIM, and check Facebook 80% of the time, so it does all of that just fine

After this HP tablet frenzy, I was inspired to buy a 32GB iPad off Cowboom.com (as well as a Thinkpad for grown-up things)

Should be here today or Tuesday.

I just discovered Cowboom a couple of weeks ago, I almost bought a 16GB iPad for the wife from there, when I was having issues getting one of these Touchpads. I let my wife have my iPad though since I got the Touchpad, i'd rather her have the easier one to deal with and that has more apps available that she likes. Plus she had already taken it over by the time I got home from work that night

[AppleBonker]

Interesting. Do you have an Amazon reader account? I'm wondering how the Kindle app is. It's looking highly doubtful that the outstanding TP order I have will be fulfilled. I'm just wondering if I should keep searching for other sources.

[Kompresshun]

Interesting. Do you have an Amazon reader account? I'm wondering how the Kindle app is. It's looking highly doubtful that the outstanding TP order I have will be fulfilled. I'm just wondering if I should keep searching for other sources.

I have Kindle Beta installed, but I haven't tried it out yet. I'll test it out soon and let ya know though.

I wouldn't exhaust yourself looking for one, but HP is supposed to put another batch on sale sometime this week. I think they're well worth the money though, even if you have to pay a little extra to buy one off of somebody. For even $200-250, they're much better than a Nook Color or any of the low end tablets available. The interface is top notch and with all of the new users and devs out there, it's going to become a huge bang for your buck if you can get your hands on one.

On a side note, the CyanogenMod team have gotten CM7 loaded onto one now. It's not very functional yet, but they have it booting up and working at least.

[AppleBonker]

I read about CM as well. And I'm not about to spend $200+ on one. If I can find one for the 100-150 cost they SHOULD be selling for, I'll probably grab one. I'm pretty much in the same boat as you: looking to let the lady use the iPad and finding a TP for myself for some basic web browsing and Kindle book reading (hence my interest in the functionality of the Kindle app).

[Kompresshun]

Oh I wouldn't drop $200+ on one either, I MIGHT pay $200 for a 32gb model, but that's about it. It really annoys me that people were just buying large amounts them to make some fast cash, but that's what people do most of the time with these deals sadly.

Of course, once all of the ones that HP has available sell out, then that'll probably be your only choice if you want one. I wouldn't have bought on at an inflated price anytime soon, I probably would've just picked up another 1st generation iPad instead.

I just tried out the Kindle app and it works well. The only thing I noticed is that the page turning animation was a little slow. It works fine, just wasn't as smooth as i'm used to, but it is a "Beta" version. My books loaded right up though and it only took a few seconds to download it, the interface seems pretty much the same as it is on other tablets.

[AppleBonker]

Cool. I will keep on the lookout then.

[Rex]

I'm already seeing them on craigslist for $200 & $300. I wouldn't pay that, but in all honesty, if you were a "normal shopper", that's a decent price compared to pre-fire sale.

[AppleBonker]

I'm already seeing them on craigslist for $200 & $300. I wouldn't pay that, but in all honesty, if you were a "normal shopper", that's a decent price compared to pre-fire sale.

Which is kind of comical given that I can grab a 32 GB TP for less than $300 BNIB from Amazon right now.

Also, given the fact that no one knows what is going to happen to WebOS in the foreseeable future, those prices are still too high, IMO. For that I'd rather find an iPad or Android tablet even if slightly used.

[Kompresshun]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c20yOVKm5UM[/youtube]

Their thread says that they will be able to dual boot WebOS and CM eventually, the support is there for it. It would be very awesome if they get this working, because then you'd still have access to countless apps but still can use the WebOS interface for your basic functions if you prefer it to Android.

[zacmil]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/08/ ... es+2%29%29

Apparently HP is doing one last run of the TouchPad to meet demands.

[Kompresshun]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/08/ ... es+2%29%29

Apparently HP is doing one last run of the TouchPad to meet demands.

Yeah, I find it awfully convenient that they're suddenly going to start building them again. I could be wrong, but I have to wonder with how unstable they've been at making decisions lately, if this will transition in to them producing even more after that, and resuming production before it's over with. It would be a smart move, yet a potentially stupid move as well for them, seeing as they have the number two slot behind the iPad as the best selling tablet now, which is where they were wanting to be before all of this, but they had to discount it to $99 and $149 to get there. I think if they played their cards right though, it could be a good decision for them since they've put the product in a lot more users hands now and it's in demand. The problem is, they've got to figure out how to make money on it if they do, because they obviously can't keep selling them for the fire sale pricing either. If they also go back on their decision to quit making hardware, then they will have to figure out how to get faith in their product back, because I know i'd be worried that 5-6 months down the road that they might pull similar shens if it's not doing so hot.

If it were me, i'd resume production, fulfill the demand for the backorders, but don't take any new orders at the fire sale price. Put it back on sale a few weeks later at a "new" pricing point, that's just over what it costs to make them, maybe say $300 for the 16GB and $349 for the 32GB. That's still cheaper than any other comparable tablet on the market and they're still making some profit on them too. Then in the meantime, start working on a new and improved version for next year, whether they decide to do the hardware themselves or have someone else do it(like Samsung or HTC, who's already shown interest). That would be a much more solid plan than the one they have right now, just my $.02.

[Dattebayo]

Hardware teardown website iSupply speculates that, in terms of components alone, a 16-GB TouchPad costs HP approximately $300 to build. That’s a $200 bath HP is taking on each individual unit sold, not including the cost of labor, shipping and associated expenses.

That's BS. It does not cost that much to build anything in large quantities like that.

[Kompresshun]

That's BS. It does not cost that much to build anything in large quantities like that.

Yeah I don't fully believe that either, I saw somewhere else that it was closer to the $200-230 mark to build them, but I doubt they're taking that much of a hit on them. If they are then they are idiots and probably won't even be able to succeed at making printers

[Jesda]

Hardware teardown website iSupply speculates that, in terms of components alone, a 16-GB TouchPad costs HP approximately $300 to build. That’s a $200 bath HP is taking on each individual unit sold, not including the cost of labor, shipping and associated expenses.

That's BS. It does not cost that much to build anything in large quantities like that.

There's nothing far-fetched about it. HP did specify high-quality hardware for the Touchpad, and build quality for the Touchpad is a bit higher than the equivalent tablet from Asus or Acer. Once you factor in freight, distribution, marketing, and development costs, $200-$300 per unit is entirely realistic.

The plan was, like Apple with the iPad, to earn most Touchpad profits from WebOS software sales. Unfortunately, there was a lack of developers.

[Encryptshun]

http://www.precentral.net/psa-sites-off ... lly-aren-t

BWAHAHAHA

HP derping. Check.

[Jesda]

HP's next brilliant plan is to slap their logo on the iPad. It worked with the iPod, right? Right? Yes? No? No.

[PoorManQ45]

That's BS. It does not cost that much to build anything in large quantities like that.

There's nothing far-fetched about it. HP did specify high-quality hardware for the Touchpad, and build quality for the Touchpad is a bit higher than the equivalent tablet from Asus or Acer. Once you factor in freight, distribution, marketing, and development costs, $200-$300 per unit is entirely realistic.

The plan was, like Apple with the iPad, to earn most Touchpad profits from WebOS software sales. Unfortunately, there was a lack of developers.

I still call BS.

Lets compare the costs to something that has similar hardware, minus the screen size:
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/xia ... -20110816/
That phone is slated to be around $300 to the public. No contract.

Now, consider that HP scaled up to hundreds of thousands of units. So they would have gotten huge discounts from their suppliers.

[Jesda]

The display is a pretty significant factor. The Touchpad and iPad, arguably, have similarly outstanding displays with the smoothest touch surfaces on the market.

HP also has the additional burden of
1. Buying Palm
2. Funding and developing a version of WebOS for tablets
3. Creating a tablet for WebOS

The cheap route would have been to follow Toshiba, Acer, and Asus by building a 1280x800 tablet with a stock Honeycomb installation. The hardware has been commoditized and the burden of software development rests primarily on Google.

New products always have high initial costs.

[PoorManQ45]

Hmm, I'm really wondering what their actual costs are. The only time you'll ever find that out is if you're the one doing the purchasing, or you visit the factory.

This is an odd comparison, but consider that HP's 24" IPS panel is $300. Touch screen overlays are extremely cheap.

[Jesda]

Would be fun to investigate and find out.

[C-Kwik]

Yeah, I find it awfully convenient that they're suddenly going to start building them again.

I have no confirmation of this, but a friend told me that the last run is going to be made from parts that many suppliers already bought but were stuck with when HP announced the tablets would no longer be made. Again, no idea if there is any real truth to this. I'm just throwing it out there.

[Dittoz7]

Oh yeaaaa!

[Kompresshun]

It looks as if the suppliers will actually be building another run of 100,000-200,000 units, so that HP will fulfill their contract with them. It seems as if HP decided it would be cheaper to fulfill their commitment with them and sell the units at the fire sale price, rather than paying to penalties for breaking their contract. So far, HP has delivered 800,000+ Touchpads, which means their user base will be near, or over one million by the time all is said and done with this run. Not a bad place to be IMHO, putting them at #2 in the tablet market, behind the iPad.

http://www.precentral.net/digitimes-hp- ... nventories

Another bit of a news update on the Android situation, the TouchDroid team has gotten the touchscreen functioning as of last night, so the next step is getting multi-touch to function properly. They're making a lot of progress though it seems, Android has been booted and running, now dual-boots Web OS and Android, and now they have the touchscreen working. Seems like Android is going to be a viable option very soon...

[Dittoz7]

So who's gonna have these the second run? Guessing big people like wal-mart?