<p>HP just announced that it will indeed manufacture thousands of additional units of the Touch Pad, after stating last month that it was tossing the thing in the proverbial dust bin of history.</p>
<p>The business tech writer at the Seattle Times speculates that HP’s Taiwan parts suppliers and builders (whom also assemble most of HP’s PC units) were not happy with last month’s decision since they had essentially millions of dollars in parts inventory for the Touch Pad. Thus, HP’s turn-around is a concession to its partners in Taiwan. No word yet on the price of the new run of the tablets.</p>
<p>It’s not really reversing course though, is it? They’re still abandoning the platform, and there won’t be any support long term. It’s just a matter of completing contractual agreements.</p>
<p>That said, if they still offer them at $99, I’d love to get one.</p>
<p>But how do they intend to distribute these things? Remember, they asked retailers to give a $300 credit to purchasers who bought one after HP dropped the price to $99? Are retailers going to make much profit off a new batch of $99 Touch Pads? If I was BestBuy et al I wouldn’t be happy unless HP gave the thing to distributors for practically nothing.</p>
<p>I disagree with that LakeWashington. I think a TouchPad at $99 - even an obsolescent-at-purchase one - would be a great loss leader for a retailer. I would expect they’d be happy to have the opportunity to sell them for the publicity and foot traffic.</p>
<p>I also think that HP inadvertently hit upon a format that might be a best-seller. While I think my iPad2 is great - I use it every day, $500 for a glorified smart-phone (or a dumb-downed laptop, depending upon how you look at it) is a lot more than the average person can afford. I think at some point, the market for high-priced tablets is going to slow considerably but if someone can come up with a reasonably priced one - say $200 and under, there might a tremendous market available. I wonder what the profit margin is on these things?</p>
<p>A bit over $300 to manufacture. So for HP, the profit margin is negative $100 (if they sell them at $200.)</p>
<p>Prices should come down, however, in the future. There are also a number of very cheap, entry level tablets running Android. These are made by Chinese companies. Not sure how available they are in the US.</p>
<p>A friend ordered a $100 one she saw on the HSN or somewhere. Not sure what the operating system was but she got it to work once and could never get it on again. Total piece of junk. At the hospital where I work, about the only people who own an iPad are executives and physicians. No one in my area of professional finance people has one except me and that’s because my spouse makes a salary in line with a physician. My point is there’s lots of people who would like a tablet but it’s still out of range. I agree prices will come down over the next few years. Early adopters always pay a premium.</p>
<p>The basic problem of those tablets is that they are REALLY not worth more than 100 dollars, and this include the overhyped iPad. The marketing genius of Steve Jobs has made many believe the iPad was a needed status symbol. Many wanted (and want) one out of fear to be missing the boat. Now that they have one, the idea is to convince others than they actually use the cute thing for anything else than … wasting time. </p>
<p>So far, the best use I’ve found for it is to sit in a kitchen as a glorified recipe book and let visitors play with it. This is about as funny as knowing the iPad are the perfect cell phone for sumo wrestlers. :)</p>
<p>I used my IPad for work…the apps were particularly good for my profession and for tracking student data. These took the place of many computer programs for my computer that were much more expensive and less easy to make available in the multiple areas where I worked. I have several hundred excellent educational apps on my IPad. </p>
<p>Since it’s my own…I also have Kindle and Nook apps, some cookbooks and some entertainment things…I like that my IPad can fulfill multiple needs.</p>
<p>Do I NEED it…well…maybe not. That’s like asking folks if they NEED a cell phone…of course they don’t.</p>
<p>There’s definitely some truth in this statement, though you can waste a heck of a lot of time on many other platforms including a laptop, PC or smartphone.</p>
<p>I use my iPad several hours a day. I’m not doing anything more than what I would be doing sitting at my laptop, it’s just more convenient at times to have a smaller device like an iPad that I can carry around with me. In my life it fits neatly between my smartphone and my laptop. I prefer my kindle to read books. I take it to meetings with me occasionally. It’s a lot easier to read emails on than my smartphone. I use Evernote a lot to jot down ideas and notes. There are a few apps I use but I don’t find it’s very useful for looking at or producing spreadsheets or typing anything longer than a paragraph or two. And I hate Safari.</p>
<p>I like being able to prop it up on my kitchen counter while I’m cooking and listen to audiobooks. I also take it religiously to doctor’s appointments these days because it seems I always end up waiting, so it gives me something to do besides read on my smartphone (though I use to take my kindle).</p>
<p>It’s not the be all, end all people make it out to be but I find it to be a useful device. I do think at $500 entry-level it’s way overpriced.</p>
<p>It’s well worth $100 if you want something to read CC, surf the web generally, email, manage and view photos, post to FB, listen to music, all in a much smaller and lighter form factor than a lap top. I agree that $500+ is an awful lot to spend on a tablet unless you have money to burn. But $100 is just about right.</p>