HP TouchPad

The HP TouchPad is scheduled to ship on July 1st, but you can pre-order the first tablet running webOS 3.0 starting today. The tablet runs $499.99 when you order a model with 16GB of storage, and $599.99 for a 32GB version.

HP.com, Amazon, B&H, TigerDirect, Newegg, Staples, and Best Buy are all taking pre-orders in the US. The folks at PreCentral have also put together a list of links for order pages in Canada, Germany, France, and the UK.

The TouchPad has a 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel capacitive multitouch display, a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor, WiFi, Bluetooth, a 1.3MP front-facing camera. The tablet has a 6300mAh battery, a micro USB port, and a range of sensors including a light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass.

The key thing setting the TouchPad apart from the crowd though, is webOS. It’s the first tablet to run version 3.0 of the operating system which was originally designed for touchscreen smartphones. WebOS supports multitasking and quick application switching. The latest version also adds an on-screen keyboard, and improved “Just Type” functionality that lets you perform many actions such as starting an email, updating your social networking status, or searching for a web site simply by typing into a text box without first launching an app.

 

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7 replies on “HP TouchPad tablet up for pre-order for $500 and up”

  1. To the people complaining about how much tablets cost…  I think that we’re all getting spoiled by the cell phone market.  Without the subsidy to take off the initial sticker shock of smart phones, they cost about $450-600 usually, so it’s not too different.  Except of course that you don’t have to pay out thousands in contract fees for seperate phone/text/data plans that are arguably overpriced, and which don’t  make much sense in an all IP world.

    So yes, cheaper tablets can be made, they come with a lot of trade offs.  Like resistive touch screens, cheap sensors or no sensors, etc.  To everyone who keeps thinking that tablets are going to come out at $350,and be as good or better than the $500 tablets…  I wish you well, because I don’t see the volume of sales being there for anyone except Apple for there to be economies of scale that start driving prices down.

    I was shocked that the Transformer and Icona were as good as they are, but handling them it’s obvious that there were tradeoffs which helped drive their costs down.

    That’s the hardware pricing front.  I have a WebOS phone now, and honestly the lack of developer support for it is the biggest issue.  Anything that a company app does works great, and generally very smoothly and efficiently, but you don’t have all the games and everything else that Android and iOS have.  I very much hope HP can reverse that, I have another year before my contract on my Pre is up, and I’d love to see WebOS go somewhere.  But as things stand right now I”ll probably switch to an iPhone if those go to all the majors instead of just the Baby Bells, or some Android phone and deal with the headache’s associated with that OS rather than stick with WebOS, unless HP really turns things around.

    Palm had a great concept, and crappy development tools.  Mojo was not fun.  They were starting to get there with Ares and all that when they were bought…  From what I hear HP did a major overhaul.  But honestly the OS itself isn’t compelling enough to use without the app support and a broader hardware base that is refreshed often enough to keep people excited.

  2. I’m waiting for the user videos to hit the web to see what WebOS offers over QNX. Brad, I hope you can give us a good user experience overview on this guy pretty soon.

  3. I am of the same oponion, this is not looking good at that price point.  I will be looking for the best tablet that $350 or less can buy sometime later this summer, I will put more care in screen choice as in readable in various light conditions as opposed to the other silly stuff such as dual cameras, etc.

  4. Another attempt another fail. Obviously these $500 tablets were in production before the Xoom and Tab fails. It’s obvious now (imo) that $399 is about the sweet spot for Android tablets. The HP tablet has a big fail written all over it. These guys are joking themselves to think that consumers are going to throw $500 at them, when people are just going to buy the iPad for that same price point. Did I mention I’m sick of pre-orders? It’s simply no confidence that people want their tablet. Can’t make too many naturally. Better to get an indicator on demand from your pre-order numbers. This is just another indicator that this high end tablet market is a big ‘ol fail.

    1. Pricing usually hovers around what the leading product is going for and right now the iPad is the leading product.  So it should be no surprise that the pricing is still similar to Apple’s.

      Products like Motorola Xoom had more than just price going against it.  Honeycomb is still getting all the bugs fixed for it.  Like the Xoom’s SD card reader didn’t even work when it first came out.  Along with other issues.

      While the success of the iPad actually shows that people will be willing to
      pay if they are sufficiently satisfied with what the device provides
      them.

      So whether HP’s attempt will fail or not remains to be seen.

      Remember this isn’t an Android tablet but a new WebOS tablet.  Depending on the user experience and how well the apps market ecosystem will work that HP is developing for it will determine how much of the pricing is justified and thus how successful or unsuccessful it will be.

      Though generally cheaper will attract a wider customer base, but cheaper also usually means less refined and less capable devices.  So price isn’t the only determining factor on how well a product will do in the market.

      The 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon though does mean better performance than the Tegra 2, until the Tegra 3 comes out later this year.  While HP is one of the few companies that can leverage marketing to a similar degree as Apple, and also will provide a range of WebOS devices ranging from smart phones to tablets.

      So the big question is how WebOS will compare to Android… Though introducing a new device market category is never easy and it may be over a year before we can safely say whether HP is on to something or whether they should have stuck to the established Android.  While other companies are considering alternate solutions like Meego…

      1. I do agree with what you’re saying. I didn’t mention the WebOS aspect but certainly at $500 and being WebOS, it’s setting up for failure. Does HP have that much confidence in their ecosystem? I though the battle here were apps and this is obviously where Android tablets fail. This HP in terms of apps would be an even bigger fail. I’m suggesting based on my gut feel and limited insight that people overall aren’t going to buy a $500 tablet that doesn’t have “Apple iPad” on it. I’m sure Brad might agree on that point. It’s not like tablets are flying out the door like netbooks were during their peak. The $399 did sell and has been selling. Everyone wants the smallest SSD for a reason. They are the cheapest. Which tablets sell out? The cheapest ones.

        1. There are no guarantees either way.  The higher price point does raise the stakes and means HP will have to provide more to justify the price but, while $500 may seem too much, the iPad has shown that can still be a successful price point. 

          WebOS may still work out for HP, this is as Brad pointed out version 3.0, and it has some advantages over Android. HP is also no slouch in the marketing power arena, as well as pushing it for a whole range of devices that can also have some overlapping benefits.

          So it all depends how successfully HP can market it and how good the WebOS experience will be.  A good beginning can get developers to work faster on getting apps developed as well.

          Ultimately, people are willing to pay more for quality and especially if they find the product useful and not just entertaining.  While those who insist on less usually have to settle for less as well.

          So success or failure should depend on whether it provides a good balance between price and features offered and it’ll only be a guarantee of failure if the final product fails to satisfy what consumers demand for the price range.

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