• android,  google,  hp,  touchpad,  web os

    Refurbished HP TouchPad 32GB on Sale at Walmart

    June 28, 2012 /

    Legacy Palm junkies (and I’m a card carrying member of that club) will be glad to hear that Walmart.com is carrying refurbished 32GB HP TouchPads via their online store.

    As you can see from the graphic above, the 32GB TouchPad debuted back in July 2011 at $600…wow…seems crazy now, right?  The TouchPad was a spectacular flame out going on sale for a brief six weeks before disappearing from store shelfs.

    The TouchPad ships with Palm HP webOS 3.0.x, and can be upgraded OTA to webOS 3.0.5.  However, if you are the adventurous type, Liliputing.com has an article about how to load Google’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.  A hack to be sure, and some things like the camera and built-in microphone may not work 100% reliably, but still cool none the less.

    I ordered my TouchPad today and should have it next week.  I was running the original Sprint edition Palm Pre all the way to the very end of webOS and HP’s Palm division.  It will be nice to have a webOS device that is functional again.  HP webOS 2.0 on the Palm Pre is just way too slow.

    Thanks to Mark for sharing the TouchPad on Walmart.com link!

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  • hp,  touchpad,  web

    Rumor: Second Wave of TouchPads Due Late October

    September 6, 2011 /

    According to a new article up on PreCentral, HP is planning to produce a second wave of TouchPads with an order for between 100,000 – 200,000 units.

    HP has said that this second run of units is intended to fill unexpected customer demand, but DigiTimes, via PreCentral, suggests that this second run it to use up the spares that have been produced, but not yet assembled into TouchPads.

    “[W]e’ve suspected from the start that there were other forces at play here. True to form, Digitimes claims to have the details, stating that HP’s plan is for the second wave of TouchPads to land in late October (and you thought it was outdated when it launched in July), with somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 units to be produced. 

    The line about unfulfilled demand is only part of the story – HP also has to deal with parts suppliers who were stuck in a lurch when HP cancelled the TouchPad, not to mention the financial consequences of breaking their order contracts with said suppliers.”

    Are you planning on being one of the up to 200,000 people trying to get in on a TouchPad?  I will be because it will be the perfect bookend to my Palm Foleo.

    Keep checking the HP Online Store to purchase your closeout TouchPad.

    [Via PreCentral.net…]

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  • hp,  pre,  touchpad,  veer,  web os

    HP Halts All webOS Hardware Sales

    August 20, 2011 /

    Earlier this week, HP announced during their quarterly earning call that they will halt the sale of all webOS devices, including the recently launched HP TouchPad tablet and the Pre3 smartphone.

    “HP will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. The devices have not met internal milestones and financial targets. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.”

    This is yet another sad day for fans of the Palm product family, but, unfortunately, not a surprising one.  The sell through of webOS devices has not risen to the levels to allow HP and webOS to compete against the likes of Apple iOS and Google Android.  HP executives where quick to point out that they had not killed the webOS operating system, but with the OS not available on any new devices and a dwindling customer install base, I don’t see how HP will hope to attract third-party developers to their platform if HP themselves are not fully committed to it.

    The good news, if you are a die hard fan of Palm and webOS, HP is suppose to be starting a fireside sale on their remaining inventory of HP TouchPad tablets.  The 16GB TouchPad is suppose to go on sale for $99, while the 32GB TouchPad will sell for $149.

    Keep and eye on the HP online store for your last chance to pick up a TouchPad before they disappear.

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  • hp,  touchpad,  web os

    HP TouchPad – $100 Off This Weekend Only

    August 6, 2011 /

    HP is running a $100 instant rebate promotion this weekend only (Friday – Sunday) on their new webOS 3.0 TouchPad when you purchase the tablet online directly from the HP.com website.

    I have mixed feeling about the TouchPad.  In the time since I purchased my Palm Pre, the webOS market share has failed to catch on.  Then, once it became painfully clear that HP and Sprint would not bringing webOS to the Pre and Pixi smartphones, nor where they going to released updated models, HP “graciously” offered early Pre owners $50 off the TouchPad.  Now, less than 60 days after launch, HP is cutting the price of the TouchPads by $100.  This weekend only, the 16GB TouchPad is $299 and the 32GB model is $399.

    If you are inclined to get a tablet, and don’t want an iPad, or confused by all the various Google Android tablets, then the HP TouchPad is probably the device for you.  If you don’t need a massive selection of apps.

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  • hp,  touchpad,  web os

    HP TouchPad Goes On Sale July 1

    June 11, 2011 /

    HP has announced that the Wi-Fi version of HP TouchPad will be available in the United States on July 1.

    HP’s first webOS tablet will be available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and Germany a few days later and in Canada in mid-July, with availability scheduled to follow later this year in Italy and Spain, as well as in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore.

    HP TouchPad will be available from U.S. retailers, commercial resellers and direct from HP with the option of either 16 GB or 32 GB of internal storage for $499.99 and $599.99, respectively. Preorders in North America and Europe will begin June 19.

    “What makes HP TouchPad a compelling alternative to competing products is webOS,” said Jon Rubinstein, senior vice president and general manager, Palm Global Business Unit, HP. “The platform’s unmatched features and flexibility will continue to differentiate HP products from the rest of the market for both personal and professional use. This is only the beginning of what HP’s scale can do with webOS.”

    With webOS, HP TouchPad users have a next-level multitasking experience, access to the web, premium audio playback with stereo speakers and Beats Audio™ technology, the ability to find information on the device or in the cloud using the Just Type feature, integrated access to their information with HP Synergy, and HP’s exclusive Touch to Share capability for sharing web addresses between HP TouchPad and compatible webOS phones.

    You can read the full press release on the HP website.

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  • android,  apple,  blackberry,  google,  ipad,  touchpad,  web os,  windows

    Forget the iPad! The HP TouchPad Will Be the #1+ Tablet!

    May 24, 2011 /

    Chalk this one to drinking too much marketing Kool-Aid(tm), but Eric Cador, HP’s senior VP of Personal Systems Group in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, said that the HP TouchPad, powered by webOS 3.0, will surpass all of the tablets on the market today; including the Apple iPad.

    Mr. Cador, in an interview with The Telegraph, stated:

    “In the PC world, with fewer ways of differentiating HP’s products from our competitors, we became number one. In the tablet world, we’re going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus.”

    Are you kidding me?!  I think that it is going to take a little more than HP willing that their new TouchPad will beat out the growing number of tablet devices in the market running Google’s Android, Windows 7, RIM’s QNX, and, well, Apple’s iOS powered iPad 2.

    Don’t get me wrong.  I’m sure webOS 3.0 and the TouchPad are going to be a great platform, but with webOS hovering around 3% market share in the smartphone OS category, HP is facing a long hard up hill battle.

    [Via AllThingsD.com…]

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  • microsoft,  touchpad,  web os

    HP TouchPad to Feature Bing Maps

    April 12, 2011 /

    If some recent photos of HP’s upcoming TouchPad are accurate, webOS fans might be in for a bit of a shock.  It would seem that Google Maps, which has be a part of webOS from version 1.0, will be replaced by Bing Maps in HP’s webOS 3.0 software.

    WinRumors.com writes:

    “It’s not yet clear whether the Bing Maps integration is due to a partnership or deal with Microsoft. HP has been a close partner to Microsoft on its Windows based PCs. Microsoft’s Bing Maps has a lead over Google on 45° “birds-eye” views but lacks the POI and retail data that Google contains.”

    For a long time, I’ve been a Google user, but I’ve been warming up to Bing, if for no other reason, it’s not a Google service.

    [Via WinRumors.com…]

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  • apple,  ipad,  playbook,  rim,  touchpad

    iPad Competitor “Cat Fight”

    March 3, 2011 /

    I just finished reading John Paczkowki’s Digital Daily post titled “HP to RIM: Our iPad Challenger Is More Original Than Your iPad Challenger”, in which HP and RIM fight over who’s Apple iPad clone is more original.

    Mr. Paczkowski writes:

    “Isn’t this ironic. Hewlett-Packard and Research in Motion, two companies that haven’t officially launched their first tablets yet, talking smack to one another the day before Apple debuts its second.”

    Read the full article on Digital Daily.com.
    [Editor’s Note: I’m sorry, but I had to replace the original article’s Dr. Seuss art with the two women locked in a “cat fight” because that was the first thing that popped into my head when I read the headline.  My apologies for my sense of humor.]
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