HP Touchpad Tablet News

HP Touchpad Tablet 

HP's TouchPad Proves a Bestseller In Its Dying Moments

HP's TouchPad has become a major seller after retailers radically dropped the price of the soon-to-be-defunct tablet.

Hewlett-Packard’s TouchPad turned out to be a bestseller.

All HP had to do was kill the tablet, which in turn sparked a global fire sale at electronics retailers. HP’s own Website also lowered the entry price to $99.

The TouchPad’s app ecosystem was relatively spare, especially in comparison with Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Marketplace; however, that hadn’t dissuaded HP executives from touting the platform’s potential to the bitter end.

“HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad [tablet] and webOS phones,” readthe April 18 statement released by the company ahead of its earnings call. “HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.”

Android could hit HP’s TouchPad thanks to Touchdroid project

If you were one of the many gadget hounds to snag a $99 HP TouchPad this weekend, you may soon be able to run Android on the tablet thanks to a group of intrepid hackers.

The group says that it’s first working on developing a port of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It’s unclear if the Touchdroid project will completely replace the Touchpad’s webOS software — which admittedly is quite nice on a tablet interface. HP on Friday slashed the 16 gigabyte TouchPad’s price to $99 in Canada, where it quickly sold out at Best Buy stores.

An HP TouchPad for $99?

PreCentral discovered that HP intends to cut the price of the tablet by up to $350 this weekend, at least in Canada. Update: The mythical white 64GB TouchPad has also appeared at HP’s US website today, for $599.99. Update : Looks like you won’t need to visit Canada to get a $99 TouchPad after all: astute dealhounds discovered that if youclick on the right links at HP’s US websitewhile logged into a corporate or academic account, you can get the sale prices to show up right now. Finally, webOSroundupreports that if you purchased a TouchPad earlier, you can call HP (or your own retailer) to get a refund for the difference.

Update : HP’s online store for Germany has reportedly dropped TouchPad pricing down to €99 (16GB), €129 (32GB), and €179 (64GB). Thanks, David!

Source: FutureShop and Best Buy, via PreCentral

This article was orignally published on Thisismynext.com — “HP drops TouchPad price like a stone, find one this weekend for $99 (update: get one now).”