$99 HP TouchPad Tablet - Still Not Worth the Price?
Hewlett-Packard (HP) created frenzy over the weekend when it slashed the price of its TouchPad by three quarters of the original market price.
The lowest-priced tablet went down from $399 to $99 and has been sold out nearly everywhere from buyers that are hoping to enjoy the luxury of a TouchPad without paying the price.
Even though the HP TouchPad seems to be the “must-have gadget” of the moment, it looks as though HP will restock the TouchPads for now, but will be giving up on the tablet business altogether.
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The HP tablet was launched on the market no more than two months ago, however, it failed to attract consumer attention, as most people continued to opt for the more popular and similarly priced iPad by Apple.
According to reports, less than 10 percent of the TouchPad stock was sold even after an original price cut of $100.
Thus, HP continued to reduce the price of its tablet and now the device is making headlines and being sold out across the country.
However, not all of the news is good.
Overall, the majority of reviews on the tablet have been negative with many critics saying the device struggles from both hardware and software issues.
Some technology gurus are arguing that although HP significantly reduced the price of its TouchPad, the devise is not worth purchasing at any price.
They argue that the technology is “crippled” and that there is no future for this product.
One such HP TouchPad critic, Harry McCracken, pointed out on Macro.org that the TouchPad is quite simply not a reliable piece of machinery and described his experience with the device.
McCracken stated that when he used the TouchPad, music did not playback when he pressed play or it began mid-song. Also the TouchPad was unable to play a 1080p movie, and the device had issues connecting to his printer.
Jared Spurbeck, a contributor to Yahoo! News, calls the HP tablet “slow and frustrating to use,” and argues that HP may be the first to reduce its TouchPad prices and get out of the tablet market, but that it won’t be the last company to do so.
Spurbeck argues that there has already been an array of price cuts and promotions from other companies with their own version of the tablet, but he believes that once Black Friday hits we are sure to see more massive price cuts and huge sales of these devices from companies that are attempting to compete in a tablet market in which Apple clearly reigns.
