Five lessons tablet OEMs can learn from HP TouchPad fiasco

[JMH]

Lesson One: Don’t launch a product, launch an ecosystem.

So, HP’s TouchPad tablet went from launch to having the plug pulled on it in 49 days. What lessons can other tablet OEMs learn from this fiasco.

Don’t launch a product, launch an ecosystem
One of the biggest mistakes that HP made with the TouchPad was to release a product and then hope that an ecosystem would magically form around it. Things might have worked that way with the iPhone, but that was a long time ago and the platform didn’t have much in the way of competition.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/five-lessons-tablet-oems-can-learn-from-hp-touchpad-fiasco/14325

 

[TrainableMan]

This is hilarious about the touchpad death ...
http://gizmodo.com/5832909/hitler-reacts-to-webos-death

 

[Ian]

Ouch, that's an expensive launch...

They've started reducing the price of these tablets in the UK to £89, but it looks like they've sold out most places. Ironically, these are probably outselling the iPad 2 for the next week

 

[TrainableMan]

Well they are selling at $99 US and I saw one review saying even if they never released another update or another application it is STILL worth $99 for the things it can do right now.

 

[Thrax]

It'll be the best $99 any gadget junkie ever spends once the TouchDroid team gets Android up and running on it. The hardware of the TouchPad is every bit as good as any other 10" tablet.

 

[Ian]

Have any of you managed to get hold of one? It's out of stock everywhere in the UK, so I've not had any luck - although I'm going to keep trying.

Absolute bargain

 

[TrainableMan]

The feeding frenzy around the HP TouchPads seems insatiable, but it may be reaching its own conclusion: electronic goods stores have sold out of the product. Best Buy says the company is sold out online and in stores, while Staples has been tweeting customers that it no longer has the hot tech product.

The HP TouchPad has been available for months, but only in the last few days has it become the must-have tech product. It became must-have only after HP decided it must get rid of it. HP said it would discontinue the tablet. Seemingly to get rid of back stock, the price was reduced to $99.

And get rid of it, they did. Since prices dropped on Thursday, the product jumped off shelves. So much so that it’s now selling on eBay for prices between $250-$300.

The mad dash for tablets seems to have caught retailers by surprise, with not nearly enough stock to meet the demand. Best Buy discontinued sales on Monday, saying its stock was wiped out. It made an about-face the same day saying it would limit sales to one per customer. Now that offer is gone. Even the Hewlett Packard site is out of stock.

Source

I hadn't tried yet and apparently it's too late.

Maybe now that Steve Jobs stepped down they will lower the ipad2 to $99