1 Million More HP TouchPad Units Coming Before November

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HP has announced its plan to produce one more batch of HP TouchPad tablets, due to reach store shelves before October 31. Industry sources say HP might produce 500,000 to 1 million more units.

HP recently decided to kill the HP TouchPad and clear out the remaining units in warehouses through an absurdly marked-down price sale. That did the trick, and stocks were cleared very quickly. The HP TouchPad suddenly earned a great demand–thanks to the drastic price cut.

Analyst Shaw Wu told AppleInsider that HP’s decision is both “surprising and confusing.”

Despite the high demand that the lowering of prices has created for the HP TouchPad, sources say that HP’s announcement to manufacture additional units is not really entirely because of the high demand, but rather, because of existing agreements between HP and its component suppliers.

“While the company is stating it is doing so to satisfy stronger than expected demand, our checks with supply chain sources indicate another reason may be to fulfill commitments to component suppliers and manufacturing partners,” said Shaw Wu.

Android enthusiasts and programmers have taken advantage of the now more-affordably priced HP TouchPad. Developers are currently working on ways to put Android on the HP TouchPad, which currently runs HP’s own operating system, webOS.

The TouchDroid project is one such effort. The developers of CyanogenMod have also made inroads into a CyanogenMod port for the TouchPad, but have reportedly experienced some slowdown because of unavailability of test units.

When the new batch of HP TouchPad units arrive, will you be getting one? And, which OS will you want it to run on–webOS or Android?

I will be getting 1 or more of them. And they will have Android on them.

I did order two when the frenzy was happening but they were canceled like many others, but that may have been a good thing. Gives the dev's more time to fine tune Android on it. dancedroiddancedroid

I've missed the boat on this deal twice.... will NOT be missing it again. As soon as I see them back in stock; I am picking one of these up. Thanks for the Post on it!!

The hidden assumption here is that they will be out for $99 (or $150) again. I think it's a good bet, and buyers will scream bloody murder if the price goes up even a few pennies. But the point is that it's an assumption.

If I were working for HP and advising on pricing models, I'd move the price up maybe 30%. They could easily take the current momentum and make a few extra bucks (i.e., supply vs. demand). Of course as a buyer I'd probably stage a boycott if they did that!

-Matt

OK I see the point and yeah; it would be smart business but, IF they are indeed getting out, AND they just need to fulfill the current contracts; why not let them go for that price (99-149)!?? It's a great way to get a slew of them into the market and at least rattle the cage (for iOS and Android) a bit. Bottom line here is; ALL tablets are over priced. I'd be willing to be that everyone would own a tablet if they were in the 200.00 range. Spending 500-800 on a tablet is just absurd. it is not in anyway going to be a laptop or desktop replacement (yet anyway). Now, if it were me; I'd sell my current commits at the same price; continue to support the units out there and IF the feedback/demand was strong; I'd re-tool the OS and flood the market with AFFORDABLE Tablets. You want to take the crown from iOS/Android tablets!?? it can be done by selling your units cheaply. Think of how many people would buy a tablet at 100-150 bucks.... now think about how many iOS/Android tablets would sit on the shelf and collect dust that cost more than those. HP would corner the market for sure. just my .02

Your logic is spot-on -- what you're describing is the upcoming Amazon tablet pricing model. And I'd bet your prediction will come true in less than 6 months.

But I'm not yet convinced that "tablets are overpriced". I'll offer two bits of evidence that suggest the opposite:

(1) Apple has a choke-hold on components. This is now pretty much an urban legend at this point, but I buy it: we see over and over that other manufacturers have to wait, or are paying a premium for parts (apparently displays and memory are a real pain). This is a relatively short-term effect, and you'd expect prices to drop in the long-term. But for almost 2 years (if we start the clock early 2010) they haven't budged much.

(2) People forget that tablets are NOT netbooks. It's a TOTALLY apples-and-oranges comparison -- and an unfortunate coincidence that tablets are computing devices that do the same things netbooks and laptops do. In particular, tablets are much more like a netbook-phone hybrid: accelerometer, cameras, GPS, touch screens, etc. Several also offer LTE, 4G, etc. So the similarity in function have people thinking "tablets should cost $200-$300" but if you look at the extra functionality on a tablet and the cost of those components (not to mention the increased cost of doing it in smaller form-factor), $300-$400 is actually the right price, leaving a fairly thin profit margin (especially in the crowded field we see right now).

-Matt

Much of this makes no business sense at all. Did HP not know about it's own contracts when it canceled the product? Reportedly it cost HP about $300 per unit to manufacture these things so they are taking an enormous loss. If they reintroduce the product at anything other then the firesale price they will suffer enormous backlash and certainly no retailer will want to deal with this either. $99 tablets are great but they are an unrealistic price level that will sour the market and make ALL tablets hard to sell. I can't see how HP would benefit from this production run and I can't believe that such contracts wouldn't have an out based on bad sales. And if some HP exec made a bad contract then he needs to be stoned to death by the stockholders at the next meeting.

Get real

Being one who received a confirmation from HP and nothing else for 11 days I have to say, "Get real"! I saw someplace that the hardware cost alone for the Touchpad 16GB is $306 exclusive of R&D and post-sale costs. The only reason I wanted to buy it was the price. It really is not that useful to me. The battery is not replaceable and the amount of apps out there is pitiful. Some part of my purchase was motivated by the seemingly imminent porting of Android OS. If it costs them at least $306 for the hardware alone they would need at least $400 to break even. $400 is another game. Amazon's purported tablet may cost that and will be considered a loss leader because of their content potential. HP said they would produce more but never said how many and at what price. I am amazed by how poorly HP has done this whole thing. From inception it seems to have been poorly thought out and poorly executed. Dropping the price by 75% could them off-guard. Now they want to revive a proven failure if they go back to the previous business model. Worst yet is their permanent reputation suicide. I can't imagine any other situation where I purchase something online and 11 days later I still don't know if I am getting one or when and can't even find out any more than day one. They don't answer phones or emails and their phony public apologies are scripted and patronizing. Please remove "HP" from my vocabulary. I'll never use it again.

So here's the deal.... They thought they could jump in with both feet to the market and be competitive. They had some major marketing flaws which led to 2 price drops in the first month of the unit's release. This put consumers into a holding pattern waiting for another price drop that was never going to happen. So mediocre response in the market coupled with piss poor sales (in comparison to other tablets); let the big shots @ HP to pull the plug on the Tablet/Web OS. Now, They took into account that they had contracts to fulfill with suppliers and, it's cheaper to complete the contract than it is to buy out. They ARE in fact taking a loss here in this situation but; you can bet they have accounted for that as well. Perhaps this was just one hell of a marketing campaign..... or perhaps they did not do their due diligence in terms of the tablet market.

As far as the over all cost of Tablets.... or anything electronic for that matter. I get a bit miffed when people defend high prices for electronics. are they made here!? NO they are not. all electronics are made in the Asian market because it's much cheaper for a company to build product and ship them here than to build them here. We as consumers always want a good deal and to pay much less for things we buy. It's why Walmart does so well. The products are made over seas because the labor rates are MUCH lower, the lack of standards in regards to Chemical waste, and the lack of unions and OSHA all add up to an extremely cost effective way for American based companies to gain more of a bottom line. It's for this reason alone that we as a Nation have lost our production base here and why our economy is screwed. I'd be MUCH more willing to pay higher prices IF that money was being re-invested HERE by products made here and not ending up in some CEO asshat's pockets instead. It's a loss for the Asian market and a loss for the consumer in the end. So yeah; Tablets/phones etc are ALL over priced when you look at it this way.

"HP might produce 500,000 to 1 million more units" does not mean "1 Million More HP TouchPad Units Coming"

Like you said at this price point; it's just too good to let it get past you. As far as a non-removable batter goes... yeah big deal. Ipods did't/(still don't!?) have replaceable batteries. You can get after market batteries and replace it yourself. So with the battery situation solved; we have the OS to worry about..... oh wait a minute! they are working on porting Android over to this Tablet!?? Hmmm problem solved. I'm really NOT in the market for a Tablet but; to pick one up for this price, I'm game. I could give a crap about HP and their reputation.... a nice Tablet at (what I think is) a fair price!? yeah Reputation repaired for me. as far as the confirmation goes.... yeah that sucks for sure; I think that they will deliver the unit to you. Did they actually charge you for it yet!?

i might consider one if it was $99

I'll get one if they are still $99. If they aren't, then no. Just think, if they are liquidating them, they aren't going to have many parts. Warranties may go unfilled.

I'm sure you'll jump on board and order one when they release the next batch.

Sent from my DROID 3 directly to YOU!

Same difference. If you read the article, you will know. I just titled it like this because I decided to go with the biggest number. And still why does it matter? Its not like one million forum members are gonna see this anyway.

Sent from my DROID 3 directly to YOU!

What's the story?

I checked this morning's newspaper. It seems that Office Depot, Office Max, Staples and HH Gregg are all offering the HP Touchpad for 399 and 499. Where did they get their inventory? Are these available only at these higher prices but not to those who ordered it 2 weeks ago? I checked my order status. It has been saying that it is updated everyday but nothing has changed. It still shows my purchase date (incorrect) and still in "admin" status. I have not been able to get through, I even wrote to the CEO Leo Apotheker.
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Theses store most likely do not have any. Each has a dislaimer on it about the inventory. These ads were produced about 8 weeks ago, prior to HP dropping the TouchPad.

I just checked Staples website and they have removed HP from their tablet category.

I was able to snag two of the 32G units that Sunday, just waiting on the Android OS for it to come around!