"This fire sale is going to reset consumer expectations about tablet prices -- at least at Best Buy, which by retail store reach, is the largest distributor of these devices in North America (by volume, Apple Store sells more)."
"Think about the appeal of a quality $100 tablet. People are clamoring to buy a product with no future. HP isn't going to make any more. There won't be new cases or peripherals. Meanwhile WebOS' future is uncertain. Still people are fighting to pay. They'll demand that price again. Expectations will be reset."
Bingo. My expectations were already reset by the $150 color nook that B&N used to jumpstart their market a few months ago.
Good article. Worth a read.
http://betanews.com/2011/08/21/best-buy-bombs-tablet-partners-resumes-hp-touchpad-sales/
It will be hard to get people to pay $500
Oddly, it was the Ipad's lack of a field-replaceable battery that raised the viability of a the Touchpad for me.
"Apple will swap out your iPad for $99 for depleted battery issues once your warranty expires. The battery is rated for 1,000 charge cycles before you should experience any serious battery life issues - that's at least 3 years of heavy use."
My history with hardware says that the Ipad2 won't be worth replacing the battery in 3 years, so it'll probably be tethered to a power cord and passed down as all-but-worthless-to-me. I figured the Touchpad has about the same 3 year lifespan even if WebOS support goes belly-up tomorrow.
Quote from: rcjordan on August 23, 2011, 06:34:00 PM
"Think about the appeal of a quality $100 tablet. People are clamoring to buy a product with no future. HP isn't going to make any more. There won't be new cases or peripherals. Meanwhile WebOS' future is uncertain. Still people are fighting to pay. They'll demand that price again. Expectations will be reset."
Having bought a Galaxy tab a couple of days before the HP announcement, I almost felt almost a little miffed. But I needed something running in an Android environment for research purposes.
Quote from: rcjordan on August 23, 2011, 06:34:00 PM
"Think about the appeal of a quality $100 tablet. People are clamoring to buy a product with no future. HP isn't going to make any more. There won't be new cases or peripherals. Meanwhile WebOS' future is uncertain. Still people are fighting to pay. They'll demand that price again. Expectations will be reset."
http://betanews.com/2011/08/21/best-buy-bombs-tablet-partners-resumes-hp-touchpad-sales/
Interesting one that. My take is that there was such as frenzy on the Touchpad due to a perception of fantastic value on the product.
If a quality tablet was launched at $100 I'm not sure there would be such a clamour for it - but if another exisiting product had it's price reduced by 300% watch it fly off the shelves...
More to the point: Why can't I get one for $99 in the UK??
Quote from: Rooftop on August 24, 2011, 10:47:18 AM
More to the point: Why can't I get one for $99 in the UK??
Rumor is they are restocking from the pile left over in HP's warehouse so you may get a shot at it.
Quote from: Brad on August 24, 2011, 11:09:47 AM
Quote from: Rooftop on August 24, 2011, 10:47:18 AM
More to the point: Why can't I get one for $99 in the UK??
Rumor is they are restocking from the pile left over in HP's warehouse so you may get a shot at it.
I heard that PC World had 2000 odd stored that they are planning to release later tonight. Probably usual Internet rumour, but there may be something in it. Hope so anyway... I left it far too late to grab one yesterday so missed out.
Quote from: Rooftop on August 24, 2011, 10:47:18 AM
More to the point: Why can't I get one for $99 in the UK??
You could get the 16GB version on Monday for £89 from PC World, Currys, Comet, Dizons, etc. All sold out fast, though.
Might be some coming to Argos on Sept 11th, though, according to this:
http://www.itproportal.com/2011/08/23/89-hp-touchpad-tablet-stock-sale-update-30-uk-retailers/
Link to Argos page:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5086043.htm?tag=tacthptouchpad_1#top
Most retailers I've checked have already removed their HP Touchpad page and are redirecting to categories for tablets of laptops.
Yep, seems to be more on the way http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/hp-promises-more-bargain-hp-touchpad-stock-998096 at least in the US anyway.
>expectations will be reset...
I don't know. Mac people are already used to paying considerably more for anything Mac related...so if they are die-hard mac-heads, it may not phase them...