HP Touchpad Clearance: $99 Price Sparks Sales Surge, Sells Out in USA
On Friday, we reported that the computer manufacturer HP, as part of a company restructuring, has ceased hardware production for all WebOS devices.
This is unfortunate because the operating system seemed to be a good alternative to the closed iOS and the complex Android. However, the corresponding devices barely made it to Europe. In the United States, sales consistently fell short of expectations, with the electronics retailer BestBuy selling just about 25,000 units of the HP Tablet instead of the targeted 270,000.
However, the sales success of the HP Touchpad finally arrived this weekend: Instead of returning the device to HP, various retailers slashed its price from 399 US dollars to just 99 US dollars. This sparked a rush of customers eager to buy the previously unsuccessful tablet, leading to it being nearly sold out everywhere within a few days. Some sources report that more than 400,000 units were snapped up during the clearance sale.
This situation vividly demonstrates that tablet prices are simply too high for the mass market. Tablet growth has fallen short of expectations in recent months, while eBook reader sales continue to rise. As we see now, a key factor for the near-stagnation of the tablet market is the high price of the devices. It seems Amazon has also realized this, as the still-unnamed tablet that is expected to be launched in the coming months is rumored to be quite affordable as well (though not 99 US dollars!).
Rumor has it that HP plans to continue supporting the WebOS operating system, with several media outlets talking about an impending licensing model, similar to Windows Phone 7 or Android. With the recent unexpected sales success, HP likely has a good chance to further market the system.
