Australian Retailer Harvey Norman Ceases HP’s 9.7-inch TouchPad Sale

Australia-based electrical retailer Harvey Norman has ordered its franchise to pull thousands of webOS-powered HP TouchPads off the shelves.

The decision has come just after the product manufacturer said overnight that it would no longer be producing the device.

Harvey Norman's general manager of Computers, Ben McIntosh, said that the company decided to stop selling the device because of the uncertain future of the webOS platform. He added that it was reaction to HP’s decision of killing the TouchPad.

Harvey Norman was the first Australian retailer to score an exclusive deal for the shipment of HP TouchPads through its franchise network. The retailer took delivery of 6,000 units in the first shipment. Harvey Norman sold nearly 1,200 TouchPads in the four days it was available.

McIntosh also said that the retailer has contacted customers who have bought the tablet and has offered them a full refund or full credit to switch to another tablet. But he added that customers who choose to keep their TouchPad to see if the webOS platform will be supported in future will be eligible to receive a refund until HP makes its decision on the future of webOS, ZDNet reported.

Previously, Best Buy in Canada started selling the 16 GB TouchPad for $99.99, compared to its previous price of $399.99. The 32 GB version of the device also had its price cut from $499.99 to $149.99. The site said the sale ends Monday.

The fall in prices came just a day after HP announced that the company will halt the device’s production and will shut down operations for its webOS devices.

The 9.7-inch HP TouchPad comes with a 1024x768px resolution and has a 1.3 MP camera with video calling. The tablet is powered by a dual core APQ8060 1.2 GHz CPU from Qualcomm Snapdragon.