Somewhere out there, perhaps in an alternate timeline or in another universe millions of light years away, Hewlett-Packard's TouchPad tablet is the one to beat after living up to its potential as an iPad killer. But in this timeline and in this universe, the TouchPad is an obsolete relic that was pulled from the market almost as quickly as it appeared, and the future of webOS lies in the hands of open source developers. Could things have worked out any differently?
A new report from VentureBeat sheds some light on the HP decision making process that ended with webOS being open sourced a few weeks ago. Sources within HP say that the company was asking for a whopping $1.2 billion for its Palm and webOS assets. For those of you keeping score, that is exactly what HP paid for Palm back in April of 2010.
If you’ve been beaten out at getting a cheap HP TouchPad, you might have one last shot. TigerDirect has a limited stock that it is doling out as part of a bundle deal. You won’t be able to buy just the tablet, but the bundles are not unattractive. These things are going fast, so don’t think it over too long.
Here’s an amusing follow-up to the “Could Apple Surpass HP As Top PC Vendor In 2012?” article we posted yesterday. In case you missed it, here’s the Cliff Notes version: one analyst says that if you count tablets as PCs, Apple will become the world’s largest PC supplier in 2012. Now a new twist! According to the NPD Research Group, HP sold more tablets than anybody not named “Apple” so far in 2011. Before you get all worked up, that number’s not quite as exciting as it seems.
Barring new life as a modded Android device or relaunched Windows 8 tablet, HP's TouchPad is damn near obsolete. Be that as it may, there's still plenty of interest in a full-sized (9.7 inches) tablet with modern hardware at fire sale prices, and developers who want to get their hands on one without paying inflated eBay and/or CraigsList prices have yet another avenue to consider.
Hewlett Packard over the weekend began sending emails to customers who signed up for updates on the TouchPad tablet to let them know the company is officially out of stock. Whatever remaining units HP had were sent off to retailers, but as far as HP's online inventory, it's been "depleted," HP said. For those of you still interested in snagging one of these fire sale tablets, Best Buy is one of the few places you'll be able to pick one up without an aftermarket price hike, albeit with a one very big caveat.
HP seems to be rethinking its plans to get out of the consumer business with new CEO Meg Whitman at the helm. According to HP itself, it has been testing the Windows 8 developer release on the defunct HP TouchPad. This is just being done as a proof-of-concept right now, but there have even been talks of reviving the device as a Windows 8 slate.
“I’m not dead!” It’s one of our favorite quotes in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” We don’t picture TouchPad owners shouting that from the rooftops, though. HP basically called the tablet (along with WebOS) dead in the water and tossed it on the shelves at $99 to clear inventory; after a fire sale like that, you can’t expect much ongoing support. But surprise, surprise! TouchPad owners aren’t quite dead to HP yet. The company has just released a WebOS update for the tablet.
HP was due to release a 7-inch tablet to go along with the now cancelled TouchPad. The smaller slate, codenamed Opal and later dubbed TouchPad Go, was reportedly just two weeks away from release when HP killed webOS. Well, a poster in a Chinese forum has posted images and details of the device, which he claims to have been using for three months.Connect with MaximumPC
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