HP Touch Pad Still Popular ... With HP Employees

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HP Touch Pad Still Popular ... With HP Employees

Posted by timothy on Thursday September 29, 2011 @12:49AM from the they-were-there-when-it-happened dept.

Earl The Squirrel joins the army of Slashdot submitters, with a story that dampens my hopes to get one of the last (cheap) HP Touch Pads. He writes: "Today HP made available to their employees (via their EPP store) one last batch of HP Touch Pads. The response has been so overwhelming that if you go to the HP store right now, you'll get the 'Please try again later' page. HP employees have 'slashdotted' their own store."

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I've used a fair variety of mobile OSes now... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-29 00:55 · Score: 5, Interesting

Played with iOS and Android more than a little. The winner for best interface goes to WebOS, by a landslide. I didn't expect to like my Touchpad this much, but it's just leaps and bounds ahead of my Android and iOS stuff...

Damnit, HP. Why must everything you touch turn to crap?
1. Re:I've used a fair variety of mobile OSes now... by spiffydudex · 2011-09-29 01:05 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I agree, the interface is great for doing everyday tasks. Love the simplicity in the email client. The only thing I did was disable the logging and increase the CPU to its standard 1.5ghz. The Pad is rock solid and for around 250$ you can get a 32gb model second hand. Great Deal in my opinion. Some may comp,ain about the lack of apps. Yes, the WebOS store is young. However, Games aside, I haven't found an app that wouldnt do what I needed productivity-wise. Now with Cyanogen claiming they want to be able to dual boot WebOS and Android, its just icing on the already delicious cake.
2. Re:I've used a fair variety of mobile OSes now... by Chrisq · 2011-09-29 01:13 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  I have much the same experience. I haven't used it enough to really fall in love with it but I like the nuances so far. We have replaced the home laptop with it for most tasks which saves a ton of power.
  Given that Power = mc2 / T, where T is the time you have been using the tablet, "a ton of power" is very impressive. Do you usually use nuclear explosions to represent your 1 bits?
3. Re:I've used a fair variety of mobile OSes now... by strength_of_10_men · 2011-09-29 01:37 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  WebOS itself is pretty awesome, but the default browser needs serious work. It can't load any slashdot discussion past 100 comments without flaking out with rendering issues.
  And considering that browsing and reading are the two big reasons I wanted a tablet for, this is a pretty serious drawback to an otherwise excellent deal.
4. Re:I've used a fair variety of mobile OSes now... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-29 01:59 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  No, I use the explosions to remove my 1 bits. The 1 bits are mountains, a crater is a zero.
5. Re:I've used a fair variety of mobile OSes now... by Arrepiadd · 2011-09-29 03:42 · Score: 2
  
  Maybe it's Slashdot who needs a bit of work and not the other way around.
6. Re:I've used a fair variety of mobile OSes now... by TheRaven64 · 2011-09-29 06:01 · Score: 2
  
  Another AOL-style post here. I'm still not sure I see the point of tablets, but the TouchPad is a really nice. HP sent me a free one to work on Objective-C support (clang can now cross-compile for the TouchPad and GNUstep's Foundation implementation runs there, but you still need a WebOS-native GUI).
  One thing that really impresses me is the battery life. I watched a 45-minute TV show from iPlayer on the TouchPad. After 45 minutes of streaming Flash video, the device still had 89% of its battery left. So much for Apple's complaints that Flash would drain the battery...
  It's also really friendly for developers. The SDK comes with an app called novaterm, which gives you a root shell over the serial cable. You can also use the SDK tools to install OpenSSH (including sftp), so you don't need to use the cable to copy files across.
  Oh, and if anyone has one and hasn't already tried this: hold the device in the card view with the speakers at the top and pull the top card right down to the bottom of the screen.
  
  --
  I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Re:I guess reselling TouchPads might appeal some.. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-29 00:59 · Score: 2, Insightful

HP employees probably wanna make as much cash on the side as they can now, knowing their impending unemployment.
I'M STILL WAITING ON MINE!! by iamhassi · 2011-09-29 01:00 · Score: 4, Interesting

Um, HP? Remember me? The guy that paid you $131.95 at 3am on August 21st? Yeah, haven't received my TouchPad yet and you haven't refunded my money. Every day you update it with a new ship date and delivery date, now it says Sept 27th ship date.

How can you be selling these to your employees when you haven't even shipped the ones you still owe your customers?

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my karma will be here long after I'm gone
1. Re:I'M STILL WAITING ON MINE!! by iamhassi · 2011-09-29 03:42 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  "ou could have dropped it to $199 and sold all your inventory, made twice as much money and not piss off customers. " based on what? WTF do you base 199 would sell out? hmm? fucking nothing, that's what. Idiot.
  When I look at their sales, their sales channel, I can see exactly why they chose 99 dollars. No other 99 dollar table sells that fast, and 199 tables are even worse. But no, you don't look at the industry, and your hubris doesn't let you think "hmmm, I wonder why they chose 99 dollars?" no, you just go to 'stupid'.
  Are you kidding? There is no other tablet even close to the Touchpad's specs for under $200. Dual core 1.2ghz, 9.7" multi-touch capacitive screen, 16gb, webcam, 802.11a/b/g/n, bluetooth. Closest thing with those specs is a $500 iPad 2.
  
  They're still selling for over $200 on Ebay now even though everyone knows people bought them for $99
  
  $99 was so low that HP is being sued by stockholders for misleading them.
  
  ah you're AC! dammit i shouldn't even respond to you trolls
  
  --
  my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Because there was nothing wrong with the product, by roc97007 · 2011-09-29 01:04 · Score: 2

HP had just priced it out of the market.

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Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Re:Because there was nothing wrong with the produc by Sockatume · 2011-09-29 01:14 · Score: 2

They charged what it costs plus a modest margin. Sometimes you're not pricing something wrong, it's just that there just isn't a rational price which makes for an easy sale.

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No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
BeOS part two? by jtseng · 2011-09-29 01:15 · Score: 5, Insightful

It seems like webOS is going to die an undeserved death. It was conceived by a company too small to survive and came late into the game, and it will be killed by a company too stupid to know what it has and what to do with it.

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Sanity.html - Error 404 not found
1. Re:BeOS part two? by Chrisq · 2011-09-29 01:23 · Score: 2
  
  It seems like webOS is going to die an undeserved death. It was conceived by a company too small to survive and came late into the game, and it will be killed by a company too stupid to know what it has and what to do with it.
  True. They could have kept it going for the cost of sacking half a dozen CEOs or so.
Re:slashdotted? by iamhassi · 2011-09-29 01:15 · Score: 2

christ has this term turned into something stupid like 'photoshopped' ?
Yes
"The Slashdot effect, also known as slashdotting, occurs when a popular website links to a smaller site, causing a massive increase in traffic."

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my karma will be here long after I'm gone
can we call writing half by somersault · 2011-09-29 01:24 · Score: 3, Interesting

of your comment in the subject line the "WTF effect"?

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which is totally what she said
ah HA! by microcars · 2011-09-29 01:26 · Score: 2

so THIS is how they make up for it in volume!
Take orders for 1.25 million @ $99
Only have 250K in stock.
profit!

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I like microcars
Re:What HP should have done by nine-times · 2011-09-29 01:43 · Score: 4, Funny
Sounds like we have an MBA in the house.
1. Sell your product at a loss
2. Rely on "synergy"
3. Profit!
Re:I can see it coming back. by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-29 01:49 · Score: 2, Interesting

Actually, the eBay price is the price point that tablet makers should be looking at. Turns out that many TouchPads are selling for about $200-$250. If I were Microsoft, I would be watching very carefully. Since MS is loaded with cash, why not sell the MS tablet for a loss so that you can create an instant community. Apple did this by being the first to create a usable tablet; the next table has to do something different to compete so why not use price?
Touchpad vs. iPad by SoTerrified · 2011-09-29 02:06 · Score: 4, Interesting

I was one of the lucky few who got one of the $99 HP Touchpads in the store. And, as an iPad owner, I have to say... My iPad was gathering dust. I originally bought the iPad because I was sold on the apps. It seemed like there were so many and I could do anything! But it didn't take long to realize that doing any kind of involved work on a touchpad was slow and awkward. And soon I was just using my laptop for any of that. All I used the iPad for was web browsing, and watching video. Enter the Touchpad. For browsing the web? A superiour experience, as not only do I have flash, but I quite like the webOS cards for handling multiple browser windows. For viewing media? I have a homebuilt PVR that I use to record tv shows. They are recorded in a format supported by the Touchpad. So how much effort is involved in transfering my TV shows to the Touchpad? I just plug it in, the Touchpad shows up like a USB drive, and I transfer files. Compare that to having to run iTunes and open files and synch... The Touchpad is just so much more convenient. You can argue specs, you can argue "The iPad has apps!" But as an item filling a niche between laptops and smart phones and finding myself with access to both, I'm reaching for the Touchpad much more than I'm reaching for my iPad.
TL;DR I never would've checked out the HP Touchpad except for the price. But now that I have, it has already displaced my iPad as a better product for my needs.
1. Re:Touchpad vs. iPad by striker64 · 2011-09-29 02:21 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  are you seriously surprised by this? The PC industry has spent years and countless man hours making things easy to use, yet still powerful for users like us to do whatever we want with the tech. Then comes along apple and tells us that the great progress we've made is all worth shit, we need isolated apps and don't need to interconnect any which device we want, who needs that stuff? And the general population eats it up like its a free krsipy kreme donut! Sure apple perfected the touchscreen and snazzy animations, but I can't help but think they've set us back so far in terms of computing advancement, and will remain that way so long as their app store model maintains a foothold.
2. Re:Touchpad vs. iPad by microcars · 2011-09-29 02:36 · Score: 2
  
  ... TL;DR I never would've checked out the HP Touchpad except for the price. But now that I have, it has already displaced my iPad as a better product for my needs.
  So now that you have used both, if you could go back in time, would you pay $499 (original list price I believe) for the Touchpad?
  
  --
  I like microcars
3. Re:Touchpad vs. iPad by Boltronics · 2011-09-29 04:57 · Score: 2
  
  *Not* the parent of your post here either, but...
  Yeah, I would have. I got one from the fire sale, and the timing was perfect. Just days earlier, I was tempted to get an Android Transformer. Then after playing with a few tablets in the store, thought the Acer Iconia was the way to go. Then I thought maybe I should think some more and maybe wait for the ArchOS G9 to see what they turn out like.
  I played with a whole bunch of Android tablets for hours, and (being new to Android) I actually found them quite difficult to figure out. For example, I could see so many applications open and running, but it was not obvious how to close any of them! I really expected Android to be easier to use.
  So now I've got my TouchPad, and it's just awesome. Just swipe the applications off the screen to close them - it feels so natural and obvious. I don't care much for the official HP Store though - most of my apps come from Preware, and the stuff there is awesome.
  The native e-mail program is pretty cool, but I wish it had some OpenPGP support. mplayer is currently being ported - can't wait until that's finished. And Debian runs nicely in a chroot. I'm currently typing this on my TouchPad using the official bluetooth keyboard in a Debian chroot running metacity and LXDE, and browsing Slashdot in Chromium. The keyboard is annoying since it's missing the escape, alt and function keys (and I might look to get a better keyboard replacement at some point so I don't have to deal with stupid mappings) but strange keyboard mappings aside it can actually work as a netbook replacement if you need it to.
  So... HP Store, Preware, and all the packages in the Debian repos... plus I hear the Android port is coming along... the TouchPad doesn't really lack apps if you know where to look. :)
  
  --
  It's GNU/Linux dammit!
Re:Because there was nothing wrong with the produc by Missing.Matter · 2011-09-29 03:00 · Score: 2

According to Google, HP Touchpad costs $306 to make while the iPad costs $260. Of course it's all approximate, but at $499 it's clear they're being sold with about a $150 - $200 margin, which is pretty hefty in the consumer electronics market.
Now it's speculated that Amazon is taking a $50 loss on each Kindle Fire. And you know what, they're going to sell a ton. A quote from my friend just now: "dunno why i want the kindle fire so much." I'll tell you why, because it's in impulse buy range. And if Amazon can make that $50 back in content sales then they're going to do well with these.
Indeed. People shouldn't mix subject and body text by mwvdlee · 2011-09-29 03:10 · Score: 3, Funny

...

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Re:I guess reselling TouchPads might appeal some.. by ackthpt · 2011-09-29 03:15 · Score: 4, Funny

HP employees probably wanna make as much cash on the side as they can now, knowing their impending unemployment.
Maybe Meg will give them good feedback for their résumés.
A+++ worker, would hire again.

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A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Re:I guess reselling TouchPads might appeal some.. by Synerg1y · 2011-09-29 05:28 · Score: 2

Lol, you think Meg wrote her own resume, cute.