I'd love to try WebOS, but the prospects of it having rich app support over the next 2 years are quite a bit lower than for Android.
A chance to try WebOS, with Android as a backup, would make this price a no-brainer. If it's just WebOS, well, then, I can make-do with my existing iPad.
In Canada Future Shop, Bestbuy, & The Source all sold out online, but may get more stock. In store they are available, but good luck finding stock.
In the USA apparently HP direct has updated their pricing - they likely have the most stock, so I'd suggest calling/ordering from them first.
I have an iPad & iPad2 already, but I'll pick up one or two of these. I find tablets handy to keep around, keep in the car, etc. Hell, even as a Christmas present you'd be the most popular guy in the office giving these out ;-)
Some ideas for what you can use them for:
Easy browsing on roadtrips (wifi from your phone)
Picture Frame/Video player
Taking Notes
Viewing photos
Games on flight, etc.
At $99 this is a no brainer for me, but I get a lot of gadgets
It's already out on the 'deal sites' with thousands of comments and over a million views. People are buying them through HP Academy and HP EPP. Amazon had the lower price briefly then went back to $398, probably sold out whoever offered it at less instantly. The 16GB is already sold out at HP direct. By 7AM they won't have any 32GB left to sell either.
Edit: HP.com sold out of all models in around half an hour. Every other store that had it at the reduced price sold out in minutes. I suppose it's impossible, but gotta wonder if anyone at HP will be reconsidering the decision to dispose of WebOS when their TouchPads are sold out nationwide in less than a day.
Why would they continue to do any of that? There is no money to be made. They couldn't even bother to continue to sell the devices for more than 48 days.
There's always the Pre/WebOS internals hacking team. The homebrew communities that build up around these types of products have always been extremely helpful.
Valid concerns indeed, but I don't get the desire to install Android on these. It feels kind of like buying a MacBook Pro to install Windows on... if MacBook Pros were built like mid-range Inspirons.
If Apple had just announced they were going to stop making computers and were discounting the rest of their stock by 80%, you'd see a lot of people buying them to install Windows on.
I just got one for free about a week ago. I don't mean to dance on its grave, but I wouldn't pay $50 for one.
I don't find most of the UI beautiful or elegant, most of it was too dark and reminded me of those first ugly mobile Linux GUIs , some of WebOS is quite well-designed, pretty, and usable, though.
The big issue for me is how long it took to load things, be they apps, websites, or search results. Whereas, the iPad 2 does everything just about instantaneously, it was a 3 second wait for anything to happen on the TouchPads. Those 3 second lags really add up on annoyance after a little while.
I wanted to believe, but in the end, it seems I was right.
Compared to what else you can buy for $50 (not a single comparably sized tablet I know of), you still wouldn't find it worthwhile? It's fair to compare it to an iPad 2 at its original price, but at $99 that's not what it has to beat.
No, but I can see why others would find it valuable at $50 or even $150. For me, it was just really bad. I was hoping WebOS would be my true alternative to iOS, but it just didn't make it there.
Arrg. I don't want one of these. I don't. I've mocked this tablet for two months. I'd rather keep my $99-$149 and apply it towards another iPad or the ASUS Eee Transformer.
But it's only $99. Wifi, IPS display, an OS that isn't completely horrible? I would be too ashamed to use it at work unless I disguised it as a photo frame. But the kids would love it.
Supposedly, some Cyanogenmod guys are buying TouchPads to see if they can put Android on them. I'm unsure of the feasibility of this as I don't know much about the hardware and bootloader situation on the TPs.
Hmm a store near me still has some in stock. I'm actually considering picking one up. The Ars review notes the poor Flash performance as one of the main negatives. Is there any way to disable Flash in the browser?
Was up coding while monitoring a few sites and saw that Walmart had updated their prices and that my local one had some in stock. Made it to the store in time to get the last two.
Already seeing these out of stock. Not all the surprising, but had they just sold these at, say, $199 (or even $249) they'd have flown off the shelves. People would put up with some flaws/kinks for something with promise.
What would that have done for HP?
Well... they'd likely have lost money on each one. But... they'd have had a much larger market of consumers and developers. Even better, they may have been able to establish some footholds in verticals that android or ipad might be establishing.
"But wait! They can't lose $X on every unit and still be profitable!". In the short term, probably not. But... they've got profits from other divisions that could have propped this up while they established marketshare. Microsoft's done this quite successfully over the years in some markets.
Instead of charging $499, then planning to spend millions in marketing, just cut the price to cost, and let the product do the talking. I wanted one of these, as did several people I know. But $499... was simply too much for a late contender. But rather than overcharging then trying to bolster demand for it via marketing/ads, they could have cut the price.
It's pretty clear that at $99, they're selling out, even without the chance of any future updates/patches or even mass market utility. $199-$249 and pretty much no marketing costs would have still guaranteed a large market for this, and set the stage for HP to be a real contender in this space.
I guess that's thinking way too much outside the box though... Yes, it's speculation, but it would have been a much stronger alternative than how it ended up, and left HP with a chance to grow here. :/
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 106 ms ] threadhttp://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/hewlett-packard-hp-16...
WebOS might be better now, but definitely not in a year.
A chance to try WebOS, with Android as a backup, would make this price a no-brainer. If it's just WebOS, well, then, I can make-do with my existing iPad.
Edit: spelling. I can't type.
In the USA apparently HP direct has updated their pricing - they likely have the most stock, so I'd suggest calling/ordering from them first.
I have an iPad & iPad2 already, but I'll pick up one or two of these. I find tablets handy to keep around, keep in the car, etc. Hell, even as a Christmas present you'd be the most popular guy in the office giving these out ;-)
Some ideas for what you can use them for:
Easy browsing on roadtrips (wifi from your phone) Picture Frame/Video player Taking Notes Viewing photos Games on flight, etc.
At $99 this is a no brainer for me, but I get a lot of gadgets
Edit: HP.com sold out of all models in around half an hour. Every other store that had it at the reduced price sold out in minutes. I suppose it's impossible, but gotta wonder if anyone at HP will be reconsidering the decision to dispose of WebOS when their TouchPads are sold out nationwide in less than a day.
http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/9a3e7678-7eb1-4b7f-88ea-...
What are the odds of Android being able to show up on it?
1. Go here: https://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/register_epp.do
2. Register a new EPP account using company code: EP4297
3. Don’t click on anything, instead click on this link (32GB): http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/FB35...
4. If you buy one (for ($149.00) use this coupon for $15 off: SAVE15HP
4B. If you more than buy one use this coupon for $30 off: SAVE30HP
I don't find most of the UI beautiful or elegant, most of it was too dark and reminded me of those first ugly mobile Linux GUIs , some of WebOS is quite well-designed, pretty, and usable, though.
The big issue for me is how long it took to load things, be they apps, websites, or search results. Whereas, the iPad 2 does everything just about instantaneously, it was a 3 second wait for anything to happen on the TouchPads. Those 3 second lags really add up on annoyance after a little while.
I wanted to believe, but in the end, it seems I was right.
Great dev tools, though.
But it's only $99. Wifi, IPS display, an OS that isn't completely horrible? I would be too ashamed to use it at work unless I disguised it as a photo frame. But the kids would love it.
edit: sold out :(
What would that have done for HP?
Well... they'd likely have lost money on each one. But... they'd have had a much larger market of consumers and developers. Even better, they may have been able to establish some footholds in verticals that android or ipad might be establishing.
"But wait! They can't lose $X on every unit and still be profitable!". In the short term, probably not. But... they've got profits from other divisions that could have propped this up while they established marketshare. Microsoft's done this quite successfully over the years in some markets.
Instead of charging $499, then planning to spend millions in marketing, just cut the price to cost, and let the product do the talking. I wanted one of these, as did several people I know. But $499... was simply too much for a late contender. But rather than overcharging then trying to bolster demand for it via marketing/ads, they could have cut the price.
It's pretty clear that at $99, they're selling out, even without the chance of any future updates/patches or even mass market utility. $199-$249 and pretty much no marketing costs would have still guaranteed a large market for this, and set the stage for HP to be a real contender in this space.
I guess that's thinking way too much outside the box though... Yes, it's speculation, but it would have been a much stronger alternative than how it ended up, and left HP with a chance to grow here. :/