HP TouchPad Fire Sale Ironically Renews Company's WebOS Commitment

Hewlett Packard thought its webOS system was a bust, so the company decided to kill webOS devices, including the TouchPad tablet and smartphones.

But once HP discounted the slow-selling TouchPad to $99 just seven weeks after launching the product, consumers flocked in, selling the tablet out of stock. Now, HP has decided it really does have something with webOS.

The company has a post on its Web site aimed at HP small and medium business customers who ordered TouchPad tablets boasting of the operating system's success and promise in light of the product sellout.

We have received unprecedented orders as a result of the tremendous discount offered, the company wrote on its site. This is clear confirmation to HP there is huge interest in building a webOS community. We apologize for any difficulty you may have had in ordering on the Web or through the phone this weekend; it was as a result of selling out of our current inventory.

Additionally, some of our customers may have experienced a pricing error while purchasing on August 20th and 21st. We are in the process of ensuring every order is honored at the discounted price and will send you confirmation via email.

Apparently many customers who ordered discounted TouchPads through the company's site through the small and medium business page from Aug. 20-21 received pricing errors.

The company said those with further questions can call an 800 number, but HP is expecting significant call volumes with extended wait times over the next 48 hours, we ask for your patience and we are committed to our relationship with you and to delivering the best technology solutions for you and your business.

HP came under a global wave of criticism for so quickly walking away from the TouchPad, run on the webOS system. The product was launched amid big hopes that the tablet could compete against Apple's iPad, but pricing and a limited number of apps available in comparison to what consumers can get with an iPad caused slow sales.

HP tried discounting the product by $100, but when that didn't spur sales the company said last week it would no longer support the TouchPad, discontinuing the product while looking at options for its webOS system. HP bought webOS from Palm last year for $1.2 billion.

Now, HP is claiming its webOS system will be used in PCs and printers. A company blog post confirmed HP is not yet done with webOS.

We have opened the next chapter for webOS, and we understand that you must have many questions. Yesterday we announced that we will focus on the future of webOS as a software platform but we will no longer be producing webOS devices, the blog post read.

Further confirmation of HP's sudden renewed interest in webOS based upon the fire sale success of the TouchPad is provided by the post on the company's homepage.

HP says on its Web site that, Due to significant price reduction, we experienced overwhelming demand for the product and are temporarily out of stock. Please enter your email address below to be notified if we have stock available.