HP TouchPad Fire Sale unprecedented event in consumer electronics

Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Boston, MA: Good luck to anyone who wants to buy an HP TouchPad, they're hard to find just over a month after they were launched. The reason for this high demand is a staggerging price drop coming in the wake of HP's announcement that it will discontinue support for webOS and the TouchPad.

How does a product go from a $499 to $99 in less than two months? How does product that costs $328 to build sell at a fraction of its price? More importantly, is the TouchPad even worth the $99 price now that HP has abandoned it and no developer in their right mind would spend another minute developing for what has sadly become the Titanic of mobile operating systems.

Here in Boston, Massachusetts, the TouchPad was missing from  Best Buy's tablet display, the stands that once held the demo units looked like they were ripped violently from units with wires and stickers dangling. The only evidence that the TouchPad even existed are the stacks of cases, keyboards and accessories.

Same thing in Micro Center in Cambridge, no TouchPads were on the floor, but all the accessories were still available for sale at the regular price. Meanwhile, HP as a company took a hit in the markets with its shares losing 20 per cent of their value. What is happening? HP is the world's biggest computer vendor, why is this happening to them now.

HP TouchPad 2011-2011 - The sum of its parts comes up to $328, price today is $99

For prospective HP TouchPad buyers, at least those who are lucky to find some at the grossly discounted price, what can they do with the device. Well, it is a perfectly useful tablet today and even if it is used purely as  web browsing device or multimedia playback device it is a stunning value. Parents who don't want to give up their iPads to their kids can turn these TouchPads into a viable substitute.

Anyone who has been desiring a tablet but who can't justify the price will find the HP TouchPad a suitable device for what it is, at $99 you're getting a dual-core multifunctional tablet,  it is a steal.

Personally, we would love to have one as a memento of 'what could have been' and it is definitely in our wishlist of discontinued products like the Palm Foleo, the Apple Newton and the NeXT Cube.