$99 HP TouchPad? What Drives Buyers Like Hell

When technology giant HP launched its TouchPad six weeks back, there were no takers for the tablet -- which came at a price of $500 for 16GB version and $600 for 32GB version.

Then HP trimmed the price by $100, unable to compete with iPad 2 and other Android rivals. Still, there were no buyers and retailers like Best Buy had more than 250,000 units left unsold.

Now, Touchpads are disappearing from the shelves and have become hot favorites after HP slashed the price of the tablet to $99 for a 16GB model and $149 for 32GB model.

Major electronics retailers sold out nearly instantly, but HP confirmed it still has more to push down the channel -- except in Canada.

Let's take a look at why people are going crazy over HP Touchpad, a device its maker had given up on.

Decent Hardware For Cheap Price

HP Touchpad is a great hardware for $99 as one gets a device capable of sending mails, surfing net and multitasking. Moreover, the tablet's specifications is also cheap at this price as it comes with 1.2GHz Snapdragon chip, 9.7-inch screen, 1GB of RAM and 1.3MP camera.

Android Factor:

There is a possibility that TouchPad could eventually run on Android. If that happens, one would get an Android Honeycomb or even Ice Cream Sandwich tablet for $99. The site Hack N Mod has even offered a $1,500 prize for anyone who can get Android on the HP TouchPad.

webOS Still There:

Though the tablet got lackluster reviews, webOS is decent software that has won praise in the past. HP recently rolled out an update webOS 3.0.2 to make the device faster and responsive. Meanwhile, HP is not discontinuing webOS and will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.

Cloud Storage:

Though HP is discontinuing Touchpad, its users would still get a free 50GB of lifetime cloud storage through Box.net. This is not a bad deal for a dead product. In July, cloud storage firm Box launched its Box for TouchPad app. The Box app will make it easy for TouchPad users to store, access and share all file types on the go, and also offers an unprecedented 50GB of free cloud storage for the lifetime of the account.

In an interview with PC Mag, Box CEO Aaron Levie confirmed that it would still offer the 50GB cloud storage for Touchpad owners.

Free Apps:

HP's Web-based app store still offers some decent apps, though they are less in number, for webOS devices. There are several interesting free apps available for Touchpad owners, including Angry Birds, Kindle eBook reader, WeatherBug and TuneIn Radio.

If you are ready to shell $99 on Touchpad, here goes the specification of the HP tablet: