HP TouchPad Flops, Retailers Want To Give It Back
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US Electronics retailer Best Buy is insisting HP take back its unsold Touchpads after struggling to sell the WebOS tablet.


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HP’s TouchPad is getting cosy in retail warehouses

Arstechnica reports that only 25,000 of the HP TouchPad tablets have been sold, even after it was discounted by US$100.

At the time of launch, the HP TouchPad was priced the same as Apple’s iPad, but lacked the vast application support that helped the iPad take off.

It is believed that Best Buy took 270,000 HP TouchPads in its inventory, and has struggled to move ten per cent of them. Best Buy reportedly wants HP to take the tablets back so they can free up warehouse and retail space.

Analyst Rich Doherty of the Envisioneering Group believes Best Buy is not alone, with WalMart, Microcenter, Fry’s and Staples struggling to move the tablet too. Staples even tried discounting the TouchPad by a further $100, but to no avail.

It’s believed the TouchPad will eventually become part of clearance stock, with the tablet being bundled with HP computers.

The TouchPad went on sale in Australia just this week, with the 16GB Wi-Fi model costing $499 and the 32GB Wi-Fi variant at $599.

Both models benefitted from the $100 global price drop, in an effort to compete against Apple’s unforgiving iPad.