$99 HP TouchPad Buyers Still Get 50 GB of Free Cloud Storage
Buyers of the heavily discounted HP TouchPad are getting an additional perk with an offer for 50 GB of free cloud storage from Box.net – for life.
Thanks to HP’s partnership with the cloud storage provider Box.net, any TouchPad user that signed up for the free 50 GB deal will retain that amount of storage for the lifetime of their Box account, regardless the life of the TouchPad.
Box’s CEO Aaron Levie told PCMag that the Box.net deal would remain in effect, despite HP’s plans to kill off the TouchPad.
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Levie said, "We’re absolutely still offering 50GB of free cloud storage to all TouchPad owners, and not surprisingly, we’ve seen a significant spike in signups through the Box for TouchPad app in the past few days, bringing total app downloads to 30,000.”
According to an entry posted on Box’s blog, existing cloud users with a 5 GB account will receive an automatic upgrade to 50 GB of free storage upon installing the app.
The increase in user activity on Box for TouchPad downloads could be a reaction to the HP TouchPad sell-out after the price of the tablet dropped to an all-time low of $99, following HP’s announcement that it would no longer produce the device.
"Because our goal is to make accessing and sharing content simple across all devices, these [TouchPad] users will benefit from our 50 GB offer across the many mobile operating systems we support, including Box apps for iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Playbook, and our HTML5 mobile web app," a Box spokesperson told CRN Wednesday.
Todd Bradley, HP Personal Systems Group (PSG) Executive Vice President, during the TouchPad’s debut said:
"Offering the Box app for TouchPad with an impressive amount of free storage and secure content sharing is an integral part of our mission to build a truly capable enterprise tablet.”
A 50-GB lifetime Box account costs an average of $20 per month.
The $99 tablet sold out during the company’s first fire sale over the weekend. However, the HP TouchPad sale is expected to continue this week according to the company’s social media manager, Bryna Corcoran, who tweeted on Monday that a second wave of the tablets will begin selling “early in the week.”
“Home and Home Office Store: Confirmed they are definitely getting more. But not in stock just yet. Any day now. Stay tuned for more info,” Corcoran said.
She also suggested that interested buyers sign up for an alert so that they could be notified once more TouchPads became available.
Corcoran tweeted on Wednesday, “Confirmed: Nothing new to report on #touchpad ETA today.”
The TouchPad 16 GB and 32 GB models are on sale for $99 and $149 respectively.
