Note: This is a guest post written by Brandy O
Goodbye HP TouchPad – Electronic reading devices have become quite popular in recent years. Though other devices were on the market, the iPad took these touch devices to the next level. The technology market wasn’t quite sure what to make of them at first, but people are showing that there is, in fact, a market for these devices.
With touch based software and dedicated server hosting, they’ve opened up another market. Everyone started throwing their hat into the ring and developing similar products, but it seems that not all have proven successful.
Hewlett Packard launched HP TouchPad just a couple months ago, and it was thought that the TouchPad would come to rival many of the top competitors in the eReader industry. The market’s show a lot of interest in devices like the Nook and iPad, but, apparently, HP’s TouchPad just wasn’t up to snuff. That’s why, just months after its release, HP is pulling the plug on the device and unloading its remaining devices. It will immediately halt production due to the lukewarm response from both critics and consumers.
It’s not clear as to the comprehensive reasoning behind the decision or why the device is so bad. It’s not clear if the line was shown to be lacking in its software, hardware, dedicated server, or dedicated hosting. One thing is for certain: you have to question the quality of your product when Best Buy, one of the country’s largest tech retailers, releases a statement and asks you to take your product back.
According to The Financial Post, Best Buy is sitting on nearly a quarter of a million unsold TouchPads and, last week , threatened to send them back to Hewlett-Packard. Before the announcement, only 25 thousand units had been sold, and even though that number is high, the rate of return of the products has been high. Before the announcement of the devices’ discontinuation, retailers didn’t want the TouchPad taking up space on their shelves. Ironically though, ever since the announcement that the device was being axed, sales have been through the roof.
The bump in sales likely has far less to do with the announcement that the line was being discontinued and more to do with the price reduction. As soon as retailers slashed the price down to a mere one hundred dollars, the TouchPad started flying off the shelves. This is because the TouchPad was originally priced at five hundred dollars, which most people refused to pay. In may places in America and Europe, the TouchPad has become a top selling item. There are no plans to revive the line and after the surplus is unloaded; HP will no longer produce more or create software for them.
Hewlett-Packard seems to be trying to save some face right now after the debacle of the TouchPad release. The company is attributing it’s rationale for the decision, at least in part, to its bid to buy a British software company. The company it’s looking to buy is called Autonomy, and said that they’re exploring “strategic alternatives” for its line of products and services. It seems that the largest PC maker in the world couldn’t stop the highly publicized TouchPad from falling flat on its face.
Note: This guest post is written by Brandy O
