Somewhere, someone out there is curled in a corner, sobbing because they missed out on the last HP TouchPad sale. Ebay messed up, he says. It wasn’t his fault. He clicked the button but Ebay’s servers crashed. So now he’s alone. Left to sulk in his missed opportunities.
But fear not, friend! I bring you great news from the land of the Internet! Woot finagled another batch of TouchPad tablets! They’re refurbs and priced higher than before, but they’re TouchPads! But you better act quick! Don’t let another chance to own a failed tablet slip between your fingers! → Read More
If you were one of the lucky few that managed to snag a TouchPad during HP’s (maybe) final fire sale of TouchPad inventory two weeks ago, you might be receiving a little present soon via PayPal.
It seems that some people were charged quite a bit extra for shipping. It seems a bit fussy to complain about when you’re getting a device like this for such a ridiculous price, but hey, not everyone can spare ten bucks these days. Not only that, but there was chaos at eBay and PayPal during the promotion; many commenters complained of errors, lag, and lost orders. Fear not: you will be compensated for your troubles. → Read More
And like that they’re gone. $99 TouchPads hit ebay right on schedule and were gone within minutes. But that’s to be expected, really. It’s not often that a solid piece of hardware like the TouchPad is available for so cheap. And thanks to HP’s recent moves, the tablet’s operating system, webOS, will be around at least in some capacity for as long as there’s a demand (and developers).
The sale started at 7pm EST on HP’s ebay store like the memo we leaked indicated. Both the 16GB and 32GB models were available for $99 and $149, respectively. I watched the 16GB model disappear from ebay within 10 minutes. As of this post’s writing, 2 hours after the sale began, only one SKU of the $150 32GB TouchPads are still available although those will likely be gone soon as well. But good luck as ebay is still flaky hours after the sale started. Twitter and forums sites quickly relayed the troubles of many buyers shortly after 7. Ebay was crashing. PayPal was lagging. The whole thing was a mess. For a short moment in time, HP’s tablet was anything but an unwanted iPad clone. → Read More
Get your clicking fingers ready! These boys are going to go fast.
Starting Sunday, December 11th at 6:00 p.m. Central time, 16GB and 32GB Touchpads will be available on HP’s ebay store. A $79 accessory bundle will also be available, which includes a case, charging dock and wireless keyboard. Look for them in the laptop section. As you would expect, there are some caveats with this deal with the main disappointment being these are refurbished TouchPads rather than the brand new models sold during the first firesale. → Read More
The $99 TouchPad fire sale was the best way to close the book on webOS and the TouchPad itself. It got the TouchPad into the hands of the fans. Only those that cared about the product lined up outside of Best Buy to grab one of the cheap notebooks. It’s also probably safe to say that most of these people do not have any interest in HP’s crapware notebooks. These people just wanted a solid tablet for a great price.
HP, you should have taken your win and walked home. But you didn’t. You’ve screwed up. Again. → Read More
It looks like Best Buy managed to let a few of those 32GB TouchPads slip through their fingers, as TigerDirect has concocted a $279 bundle around HP’s stillborn tablet.
Yep, people looking to score a TouchPad on the cheap may need to look elsewhere (good luck, by the way). There always seems to be a catch when it comes to TouchPad deals, and TigerDirect is more than happy to oblige.
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Here’s one to file under “completely unexpected” — remember HP’s long-dead TouchPad? Well, apparently it’s got some life it in yet, as Best Buy will be allowing their customers to purchase a 32GB model for $149 so long as they buy an HP computer at the same time.
The deal starts on November 1, and I suspect Best Buy and HP will be hyping it like crazy next week. This whole thing begs a far bigger question though: where the hell are these things coming from? → Read More
The head of HP’s open source initiative, Phil Robb, took umbrage when Touchpad lovers found Android running on some HP Touchpads and clamored for the source code. Robb, who is in charge of handling open source software and distribution for the company, said there was never an Android made for the Touchpad and there is no way it could have shown up on the Touchpads, even through factory error.
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People love the $99 TouchPad including HP employees. The TouchPad hit the HP’s employee purchasing program yesterday and potential buyers showed up en mass, promptly crashing the servers. It’s unclear how many TouchPads were sold, but my HP source didn’t manage to snag a cheap TouchPad yet. Instead, he received (and forwarded) an email detailing the problem and warning employees not to bother the call center with their woes. “Our site is too slow,” he said. HP might still have TouchPads reserved for employees as he hasn’t received an email stating they’re sold out.
Hopefully after HP takes care of its employees the company will release the last TouchPads to retailers. After the first batch dried up last month, most stores started wait lists after HP announced more were on their way. My daily routine involves checking several retailers’ websites in the hope that I stumble upon an active Buy Now link — apparently a good chunk of HP’s 300,000 employees are doing the same thing right now. → Read More
It’s not very often I get to write that it’s a good day to be an HP employee. But it’s also not everyday that HP employees are offered some of the last TouchPads.
The company is set to release a final batch of the $99/$149 HP TouchPads to employees starting September 28th at 9:00am PDT. This is per an email I received from an HP employee (embedded after the jump), which notes TouchPads are available on a first come, first serve basis and employees are only allowed to buy one TouchPad — which some will likely list on ebay where TouchPads are currently selling for over $200. The sun is setting on the TouchPad’s life and HP is likely ready to move forward, thoroughly burned by their venture into the land of the iPad. → Read More
Gor blimey, Danger Mouse! The Touchpad suddenly appeared at UK retailed PC World for a mere $398, a far cry from the impressive $99 models offered on this side of the pond. → Read More
Regardless of your thoughts on what OS should be used on HP’s TouchPad, work on getting a fully-featured version of Android up and running continues unabated.
There’s been a lot of progress in the past few weeks, but a group of devs revealed today that one crucial piece of the puzzle has just been popped into place: the touch screen finally works! → Read More
TouchPads are in hot demand right now and it seems as if Office Depot just is ready to ship out another round. This comes from an email set to us that indicates at least some 32GB TouchPad orders were canceled, which the retailer is ready to use to fulfill the backorders.
Chances are that if you’re part of this group, there’s an email waiting for you from Office Depot right now. If you don’t have said email, you’re probably going to be waiting a little longer if not indefinitely — unless the retailer you entrusted receives part of the last run of TouchPads.
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Before the TouchPad dove head first into the bargain bin, HP tried a little pricing experiment. Early in August, they dropped the TouchPad’s price by $50, and very shortly after, the discount was bumped up to $100.
It was a sweet deal, but in retrospect, some buyers may not be too happy with pulling the trigger when they did. Woot sold the TouchPad for $379, but they reportedly feel like “scruffy nerf herders” about it and are offering buyers a $100 partial credit and an email laden with Star Wars jokes. → Read More
Hold on to something tight, webOS geeks. Your favorite tablet, which I can only assume is the TouchPad, might not be the last webOS tablet incarnation from HP. An HP excutive and former webOS VP recently stated that the company could resurrect the TouchPad stating to Reuters, “tablet computing is a segment of the market that’s relevant, absolutely.” But let’s hope that HP’s Personal Systems Group head Todd Bradley remembers the TouchPad’s rough path to success. → Read More
There have been a flurry of efforts in recent days aimed at getting a workable version of Android up-and-running on the webOS-based HP TouchPad. The mission has been funded in part by modding community called HackNMod, which is hoping to give the tablet’s early adopters an operating system with a more certain future: Android.
It appears that the CyanogenMod team has finally made that happen. According to a public statement and accompanying video, the developers say they now have an alpha version of the CyanogenMod 7 firmware running on the TouchPad. → Read More
The bounty to get a workable version of the Android operating system installed on the now-discontinued HP TouchPad is up to $2,000+, as of today.
As we previously reported, the goal of this project is to get some version of Android 2.x onto the TouchPad and, most importantly, stable. If successful, this effort will help keep the HP tablet a little more relevant to those unfortunate early adopters who have been left with a mobile operating system whose future is decidedly uncertain. → Read More
We’ve long wanted to put together a videocast for TCTV focusing on gadgets but, because we were too lazy, it never happened… until now. Please excuse the quality as we’re working out the bugs but we wanted to get something up this week, thereby ensuring we actually do this on a regular basis.
This episode is all about tablets. First we talk about Samsung’s belief that 2001 is prior art in the tablet space and then we talk about ten things to do with your brand new $99 TouchPad. Please: enjoy. → Read More
This weekend’s TouchPad fire sale has more or less petered out, and thousands of HP’s little tablets that couldn’t have found new homes. Not everyone seems to love WebOS though, as a growing number of people who bought bargain-bin TouchPads are clamoring for a tablet experience that’s a bit more… shall we say, relevant.
Thanks to its open nature, Android is the OS of choice for a TouchPad port, and now the folks at a modding community called HackNMod are offering bounties to the devs that can make it happen. → Read More
Wow. The day after HP announces they’re discontinuing all their webOS devices, and they’ve already issued a liquidation order. Best Buy, Future Shop, The Source, London Drugs, and Staples will be selling the 16GB TouchPad for $100, and the 32GB version for $150 starting tomorrow. Well, in Canada at least. → Read More
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