[EITR] Death Of TouchPad (WebOS) And 3 Major OS Left

[WenWM]

HP recently killed off the TouchPad, and seeing as that was one of the only quality alternatives to Android and iOS tablets, it would be unfair to let it die quietly. The tablet that was just mere months old was discontinued by the popular PC manufacturer, and liquidated to sell at $99 for the 16GB model and $149.99 for the 32GB variant. This move came as a shock because HP hasn't done much with the OS that cost them a cool $1.2 billion to acquire. Now they're cutting their loses all together, estimated at another $1 billion, and stepping away from that market.

This means, with WebOS and the TouchPad gone, the only truly relevant OS's are now just Android, iOS, and Windows Phone 7. I don't consider Blackberry as one of the 3 because they are still pushing to get into the touch market, and I honestly do not see them stepping in the ring anytime soon. Microsoft is pushing hard to shove their Windows Phone 7 OS down our throats, and with all the patent lawsuits going back and forth, they are sort of winning. Apple is also taking the battle into the court rooms and making sure Samsung will not be available for us to purchase when it comes time for Christmas --or black Friday for that matter.

This elephant in the room has to be posted, so please share your thoughts about this news below. Did you get a chance to buy the tablet? I personally am sitting next to mine as I write this and my buddy Virus (founder of the HTC Amazon data leak) is getting his own soon. We hope to have Android 3.0 "popping" on here soon --dual booting anyone? Reply with your thoughts.

 

[NCREDIBLE DROID]

R.i.p

 

[Byakushiki]

Yup. Got linked to a good Amazon page from a *shady Chinese website* :laugh: and ordered it. Hopefully, it arrives in one piece. I hope as well for a nice 3.0 port, or at least GB with a CM7 Base. I certainly wouldn't mind it since it's quite up to date anyways, and will still look quite nice.

 

[Immolate]

I spent too many hours this weekend trying to get two of these. I thought I had them after a confirmation letter from Micro Center and forwent buying two from Sam's Club based on that. Unfortunately, I received another email today indicating that my order was cancelled. I was upset by the news, but I haven't had a shred of luck trying to do anything about it today, and of course Sam's Club was sold out as well.

Does it upset me when I see news of a bunch of folks buying up a big mess of them at a time? Yes. It's frustrating knowing that tech enthusiasts would deprive other tech enthusiasts of the same bargain they got for the purpose of personal profit. It isn't stealing and it isn't illegal, but it's definitely selfish and greedy, and diminishes any sense of brotherhood in the community.

I'm not one to let stuff like this get me down though, and I'll try to secure one when they become available again, though I don't much like my chances. I found the idea of being a part of this emerging community of Touchpad hackers to be very exciting and that's where most of my frustration comes from. Things always seem more worthwhile when you have to work for them, and when you're witness to the process.

 

[nlinecomputers]

I ordered two earlier today via Amazon when the priced dropped to 99 on their site. My understanding is that basic work to port Android to the device has already begun and I would expect a full android rom to be out in a week and real polished roms like Cyanogen out in a few months.

I doubt that WebOS is dead but it all depends on if any one wants buy it from HP. If we are lucky they will just opensource it and see what happens but I doubt HP will do that. It will either be sold or scraped.

 

[Chizzele]

I'm open to pay 20% over sale price if anyone has an extra and want to share with a fellow techie..

 

[Immolate]

I managed to get an order through HP Small Business which showed OOS earlier today. I don't know if its legit or if I'll get a cancellation email, but I have hope once again. I was going to get one for my wife as well but at this point I'm trying not to push my luck.

 

[hbah427]

As a webOS developer, I feel the need to correct you. webOS is not dead. It's actually far from it. We've lost a hardware company, yes, but HP has expressed interest in licensing webOS to other companies for hardware. They're still supporting the operating system, the app ecosystem, the homebrew and everything else they just wont be making new devices.

I love the webOS community about as much as the Android community. I'd hate to see people give up on webOS.

 

[i can read]

anyone know where I can get one?????

 

[Immolate]

I was just able to order a 16GB from Barnes and Noble. Again, not sure if I'll actually get it, but it went smooth.

Other places that are supposed to have them are macmall.com and pcmall.com. Both sites are slammed. B&N is not slammed... yet.

 

[Chizzele]

I was just able to order a 16GB from Barnes and Noble. Again, not sure if I'll actually get it, but it went smooth.

Other places that are supposed to have them are macmall.com and pcmall.com. Both sites are slammed. B&N is not slammed... yet.

Thank you for the advice, just ordered one as well. Seems to have gone through but time will tell..

 

[i can read]

thanks got one from barnes and noble

 

[YungFrshCrckr]

Ordered three from Barnes and Noble. WebOS, as another user has said, is not dead and has been confirmed to have coverage as well as development continue into the future.

 

[Crushr1]

Thanks for the info. Just bought 1 as well at B&N.

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

 

[Immolate]

Very glad so many got the word in time! Congratulations (assuming they don't cancel). I did get a "scheduled to ship" email a bit ago, so far so good.