Look alive, bargain-hunters: HP is to make one last batch of HP TouchPad tablets. The discontinued webOS tablet sparked a buying frenzy when the price was slashed by 70 per cent, so HP is launching one final production run.
HP revealed the news in a blog post this week, although it has since clarified the extra units will only be available in North America. The TouchPad, and its webOS smart phone sibling the Pre3, had been killed off by HP and were destined to a quiet death until their prices were drastically slashed.
We like webOS, with its nifty interface of virtual cards. But no-one was interested in buying one, with HP apparently losing money on the troubled device. The company wasted no time in dropping webOS like a hot rock, announcing that it was killing the operating system barely a month after it went on sale in the UK.
But when the price went through the floor, the TouchPad went from white elephant to solid-gold bargain and stores sold out in double-quick time. Thanks to this final production run, discount-happy shoppers have another crack at the cheap-as-chips tablet.
Whether the final batch of TouchPads will have the same bargain-bin pricing hasn't been confirmed yet. But it's likely to be on the cheap side, as HP has committed to limiting how many tablets each customer can buy. There will only be a limited quantity of tablets built -- HP wants to use up the components -- so when they're gone they're gone.
As much as it would amuse us if the TouchPad's slashed price made it more popular than it would otherwise have been, even these sales are unlikely to grant webOS a reprieve. HP is pulling back from consumer products across the board to focus on business kit and software -- although Samsung is reported to be interested in buying webOS. Samsung already uses Android, Windows Phone and its own Bada, but hey -- you can never have too many operating systems, right?
The final TouchPads won't be on sale for "at least a few weeks". Will you have lost interest by then? And did you bag yourself a TouchPad or Pre 3 in the HP sale? Tell us how you got on in the comments or on our Facebook page.
Update: Added clarification that the new production run will only come to North America (via Mobot).
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Comments 13
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billfred 31 August, 2011 11:47
I'd rather another shot at trying to get a dirt cheap Pre 3 :(
nickbreeze 31 August, 2011 13:15
i got a touchpad last week and love it. if they flood the market with another 500k tablets, absorb the loss, won't they buy a load of market share and earn loads from the hp catalogue and ad revenue alone? then with a happy enthusiastic user base they could concentrate on making a couple of new tablets that cost less to make than sell - 1 that is super cheap but "does the job" and another that is top end and might be worth the ipad prices they had originally hoped for
anonymous 31 August, 2011 14:27
Would it be possible to buy the touchpad and then strip its OS and download android??
billfred 31 August, 2011 14:52
Yes it would, thinq.co.uk/2011/8/30/cyanogenmod-team-puts-android-touchpad/
Leszcz 31 August, 2011 15:12
@nickbreeze
Exactly what I was thinking. My thoughts even went as far as that they had done this for this reason precisely. Though I don't think that's what happened, they may use it now for their advantage. I mean for that price a lot of people will choose that over expensive android tablets, that don't come with a lot of native applications anyway.
The only question is is WebOs any good, and is it easy to write software for it?
anonymous 31 August, 2011 16:37
Why tell us this just to say it's only for the US? Why even refer to it as the £90 touchpad if it's not going to be on sale in pounds?
Thanks a bunch for getting my hopes up.
anonymous 31 August, 2011 19:00
Pointless article as the new batch is not going on sale in the UK. I had an email from HP UK confirming this!
anonymous 31 August, 2011 21:09
What's the point of this hype if it's not going to resurface in the uk ?
anonymous 31 August, 2011 22:39
HP UK took it off their site a couple of days ago, now its back on and not for sale! why not just take it off the site all together?- i think they will sell them to America to get a user base then sell off webOS off for a better price than they would off got a few weeks ago.
they really should ship some over here though - looks like Amazons pad will be the one to take on the ipad in the UK -wonder if that's why Amazon didn't want to drop the price to £89?
anonymous 1 September, 2011 00:18
I got a 32gb Touchpad and a Pre 3 at knockdown prices last week and couldn't be more pleased.
Pre 3s are still out there so long as you look to pay the thick end of £200. My bundle came to £338 including VAT & delivery for the two of them. Anyone that thinks this is too much deserves to suffer Apple products. Buying one without the other would spoil the experience - I wanted the phone more than the tablet, but, having got both, life is so much better.
anonymous 1 September, 2011 09:51
Where in the UK can i still get one of these from? or even a Hp mobile phone??
anonymous 1 September, 2011 14:38
I asked at my local Argos store on 30/08/11 if they would be getting more HP touchpads in stock, they checked their delivery dates and confirmed they would be getting more in on 11/09/11.
But they said that they do not know how many therefore they could not reserve the item.
So looks like there will be a mad dash next sunday.
anonymous 24 September, 2011 09:39
Hp staff are getting the 32gb model cheap, so doubtless will re sell