Dang, I have 6 I would have sold you one for XXXX had I known you would go higher than firesale MSRP. I wasn't looking to make a mint.

I misinterpreted your comment about 3g/4g model for more than the wifi model as 'not a penny' being you didn't want to pay over firesale price at all.(and I would not blame you)


BTW there are new apps coming for touchpad daily in HP App Catalog, some are pretty good. The email still blows the socks off anything on Android paid or free.


I had even started writing a PM to you offering to sell when I read the comment about the price of the 3g/4g model.

Edit: no offers please.

This is posted on SlickDeals every once in a while. I find it very helpful, and also a decent indicator on how much I can sell them for on Craigslist once I get my shipment (hopefully this week). Ideally, I'm looking to make about $75 for each one I sell, which would pay for the two 32gb I plan on keeping. If I can also cover the cost of the touchstone charger and two cases, it will be an added bonus.

Sep 4, 2011 - 6:30 PM Pacific Ticker: HPQ32gb (-10.00) - At this point in time, the lowest Buy It Now price from an eBay Top-rated seller for an item like yours in New condition is $269.95.
There currently may be a lower price than this from other sellers on eBay. eBay makes no representation that any item will sell for a particular price.

Sep 5, 2011 - 6:37 PM Pacific Ticker: HPQ32gb (+5.05) - At this point in time, the lowest Buy It Now price from an eBay Top-rated seller for an item like yours in New condition is $275.00.
There currently may be a lower price than this from other sellers on eBay. eBay makes no representation that any item will sell for a particular price.

Sep 6, 2011 - 6:20 PM Pacific Ticker: HPQ32gb (+6.99) - At this point in time, the lowest Buy It Now price from an eBay Top-rated seller for an item like yours in New condition is $281.99.
There currently may be a lower price than this from other sellers on eBay. eBay makes no representation that any item will sell for a particular price.

Sep 7, 2011 - 7:00 PM Pacific Ticker: HPQ32gb (+0.01) - At this point in time, the lowest Buy It Now price from an eBay Top-rated seller for an item like yours in New condition is $282.00.
There currently may be a lower price than this from other sellers on eBay. eBay makes no representation that any item will sell for a particular price.

Sep 9, 2011 - 1:31 AM Pacific Ticker: HPQ32gb (-2.01) - At this point in time, the lowest Buy It Now price from an eBay Top-rated seller for an item like yours in New condition is $279.99. There currently may be a lower price than this from other sellers on eBay. eBay makes no representation that any item will sell for a particular price.

Sep 10, 2011 - 6:00 PM Pacific Ticker: HPQ32gb (+2.01) - At this point in time, the lowest Buy It Now price from an eBay Top-rated seller for an item like yours in New condition is $282.00. There currently may be a lower price than this from other sellers on eBay. eBay makes no representation that any item will sell for a particular price.
16gb Listings 496
32gb Listings 620

Sep 11, 2011 - 7:56 PM Pacific Ticker: HPQ32gb (0.00) - At this point in time, the lowest Buy It Now price from an eBay Top-rated seller for an item like yours in New condition is $282.00. There currently may be a lower price than this from other sellers on eBay. eBay makes no representation that any item will sell for a particular price.
16gb Listings 461
32gb Listings 561

I am not, unfortunately, on the back logged list of people that is supposed to get one directly thru HP. I also doubt with the excess demand in the marketplace that I will be able to get one on the 2nd round that HP is supposedly now producing.

If one veteran FT'er wants to sell me a brand new, spare one of theirs for only $75 above the "firesale" HP price then please PM me. 16GB or 32GB version is fine.

TIA.

Oh, well. Thanks, anyway. I'm still satisfied with the price that I got.

I read an article yesterday that HP is re-thinking it's whole WebOS strategy and may continue in the tablet business. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

Yeah, HP should rethink their strategy. What they should realize is that price matters to the consumer. Apple is the premium technology provider, so they can command a premium price. HP can't.

HP's mistake is to think that they could charge a price that is close to the ipad. I think that they could make a market niche for themselves by pricing the Touchpad somewhere below the ipad, but above their firesale price.

The problem is that HP (nor any technology company, really) is prepared to sell their items for a loss to gain market share and hope apps/accessories sales bring the whole production line into the black. It will be interesting to see how much Amazon prices their new tablet at--although I instantly wrote it off since it's only a 7" screen.

IIRC, you could get the pre-fire sale 16gb for $400, which is only $100 above HP's manufacturing costs (and does not include marketing and R&D). There is very little margin below that $400 price point.

I think the secret here is economy of scale. If sales go up by an order of magnitude, cost-of-goods should fall dramatically. Though $99/149 might not be feasible, perhaps $199/249, or $249/299 would. What the fire sale has proven is that, at a low enough price point, a lot of people will want to buy a tablet of this quality that otherwise would not. WebOS is supposed to be a pretty decent tablet/phone OS. Perhaps HP could follow Microsoft's model and charge for new releases. Or, perhaps it could make its money on accessories -- the HP Touchpad and most WebOS phones use a handy wireless charger.

All those cost estimates are rather stupid, don't you think they pay significantly less in scale of a million orders?

Just because isuppli says it cost $320 for a tablet, or any other number, doesn't make it so.


I am not being unrealistic and saying it cost them $189 to make the 16GB model, but to say it cost even $299 is not realistic either, probably more in the area of $230-60 in volume. So yes they would still be losing money, the total cost they give doesn't include R&D, or marketing of course.

Apple has both ways, they are brilliant in both marketing, and all the little 'addons' like the SD card cable, hdmi cables, charger cables that change ever so often so you can't reuse older ones. It locks people into your product, and brings them back to the store to pay $20+ for a dirt priced item to make.

Maybe the alarm bells are sounding at RIM, too.

Staples is offering a $150 or $200 off coupon for the Playbook (check your e-mail). This is also stackable with your typical $30 off $150 as well as the $100 Mastercard rebate.

That makes a 16gb the low, low price of $119 (or $169).

I haven't seen that coupon. Is it targeted? It wasn't in my weekly Staples email. For $119, I'll pick up a Playbook, too.

I haven't received the coupon, either. If I do, I'll PM it to you.

Thanks!

If anyone has an extra, please PM me the code. Thanks.

I agree 100% WebOS email support is about the best that I have ever worked with, especially with IMAP which is poorly supported by almost every other mobile platform.

With my Android device I use K-9 Mail (which works well enough) but nowhere near as good as the native WebOS client.

Dan