TouchPad accessory pricing confirmed: $30 charger, $50 case, $70 keyboard, $80 Touchstone stand 84
HP may have given us the release date and pricing for the HP TouchPad (July 1st!), but what of those accessories? Presumably they’ll all be available at the start of next month as well, but a search for TouchPad on the HP store site reveals the retail pricing for the TouchPad’s bevy of first-party accessories.
First up is the charger, which in order to charge the significantly larger TouchPad battery (6300mAh) is both larger and more expensive than the old Palm chargers. It’s the same style design, heck, it even uses the same cable, just without any obvious branding and a longer AC-to-USB cylinder. It also puts out 10 Watts to charge the TouchPad.
That folding magical case for the TouchPad we saw before has been confirmed at $49.99. The case slips on over the back with a segmented screen-covering flap. That flap can be tucked into a tab on the back, which allows you to either prop it up for viewing in movie mode or low angled for typing. As you can imagine, it has holes for the volume buttons, headphone and micro-USB ports, and speakers. The back is also thin enough that it will work with the Touchstone Charging Dock (more on that later).
Okay, the keyboard. It’s Bluetooth. It has webOS-specific keys. It runs off two AA batteries that are estimated to last a whopping 12 months. Its slim and sexy. And it’ll cost you $69.99.
There’s one final accessory, and we saved the best and most expensive for last. It’s the HP Touchstone Charging Dock. The adjustable stand includes two Touchstone charging coils so you can charge your TouchPad in vertical or horizontal orientations, along with some sort of communications coils to identify itself to the tablet. It uses the same charging cable as the TouchPad, and blessedly comes with the cable and AC adapter in the box.
Source: HP Home and Office Store; Thanks to David for the tip!
84 Comments
Actually, the pricing is not terrible. I was expecting a lot worse for some reason. Of course, it's still going to put a hole in the ole wallet when coupled with the purchase of the TouchPad, but this isn't at all too bad, IMHO.
I don't think the pricing is that bad either. Hard to believe this generated so many comments.
I agree. I mean, you're ready to drop $500-600 on an unproven luxury item that only exists because Apple invented the product category (modern entertainment slate) in the first place. How can you flinch at dropping another couple hundred on accessories?
You should be spending at least another hundred on HD apps, "HP Music Store" and "HP Movie Store" subscriptions/rentals alone.
TouchPad should come with a touchstone charging dock included in the price.
Certainly the higher-priced 3G (or even 4G)/WiFi model with 64GB of memory is likely to be expensive enough that bundling in a charging dock would be expected.
Don't expect it. Why would they do that?
Because they want to sell TouchPads.
Then knock the price on the Touchpad down. HP would be smart to keep whatever margins they can on accessories. The accessories are part of the ink. The touchpad is the printer.
So the charger is only if you want a spare one, right? Not cheap but would look into getting the stand and case.
I agree. Isn't there a charger in the box? Never bought a charger or computer w/o the charger being included. Hopefully, this is for additional chargers.
Whoa that's a bit pricey! $80 for the touchstone!! I figured it would be 40-50 dollar range...guess I'll only be picking up one...or if I get two then I won't get the case...AHHH
The original Touchstone was fairly expensive but could be had for a more reasonable price if you bought the charger, cable, and cover separately. It also came down in price pretty quickly because of the failure of the Pre. Hopefully, HP will be smart enough to start cutting the price of the new Touchstone more quickly than Palm did.
It these prices, you'll be able to get a whole Touchpad/Touchstone setup on Woot for $300 next spring.
This is why PC makers are so eager to move into the tablet space. At $500, the Touchpad is already more expensive than a typical netbook. Add to this about $230 and now you're in reasonably well specced low end laptop territory.
And this is exactly why I will not own one of these for a long time! As much as I love webOS and want to see the Touchpad be a success, I can't justify spending this amount of money now. I have to think I am not alone...
you are not alone - these prices are outrageously ridiculous. I just bought a dell xps laptop with a core i5 chip, 4G memory and 500G hard drive for $700 including taxes and shipping. It'll offer me everything this thing can, and more (sans the weight). Absolutely ridiculous pricing - about 300% markup on these things and no one is buying one because it can do anything better. People just buy one because they don't know how to say "I don't need one" but rather, "everyone else has one, why shouldn't I?" Tablets are a solution, looking for a problem.
You mentioned weight--1) ease of portability is important to some. 2) It also typically costs money to make smaller items for a phone/pad/anything smaller. 3) Does your computer have gps, compass, etc.? 4) Does it have an exhibition mode that can change based on your geographic location? 5) these are accessories. None are required. If you get the TouchPad, you get the extras if you want/need them.
If it doesn't work for you, stick w/the laptop.
$600 for the 32GB, + $30 charger, $50 case, $70 keyboard, $80 Touchstone stand.
I can justify spending $820, but for that price I'm going to get a nicely set up laptop that can also read/burn CDs/DVDs, read bluerays, has gigabit Ethernet, has ports for lots of USB/firewire external devices, a lot faster CPU and graphics card, a boatload more storage and RAM, and about a bazillion times more applications available.
Cool. Sounds like a pad may not be the product for you. BTW, accessories aren't mandatory.
I haven't made up my mind. I want one, but hard to justify as well. BUT, I see how it meets the needs of others.
$30 for the charger? That seems reasonable. $70 for the keyboard? I guess I get the pricing but I'll probably wait for that to drop in price. $80 for the Touchstone? Yeesh...I understand it's larger with two coils and everything but...yeesh.
Then...$50 for a CASE?! I am sorry but that's just ridiculous. Absolutely not, I won't even touch it.
So a $500 or $600 tablet (I'm assuming you get a charger in the box), plus $70 for a keyboard, plus $80 for the touchstone? I feel that that's asking a lot for people to pony up to get the experience that HP is really marketing.
I understand that extras cost money and it's a way to recoup costs, but when your differentiators are extra accessories like that and you've been marketing them as part of the experience, that's just too much extra money to ask people to put down.
I don't like it.
Well, I just paid 59 € (including VAT, which makes $ 84) for my leather case for my new Kindle. I guess such stuff IS expensive.
But I expect it to be of HIGH quality to justify the price. If not... I would have to look for other suppliers.
The stuff isn't expensive. Some no-name Chinese company could produce a touchstone for $5 and make a profit.
HP is just getting greedy with a dream that these are going to sell like iPads, so a $75 margin on the Touchstone == BIG $$$.
It actually just makes that Touchpad that much less attractive, and less likely to sell.
HP, this is no time to be trying to make money. You spent a Billion + on Palm knowing the company was a fixer-upper. Cheaping out now means you will be throwing the whole investment away.
I disagree. The Touchstone helps make my Pre be a dream to charge. They have added exhibition & for the touchstone to know your location in case you want different items to appear in exhibition mode based on your location.
I don't know what it costs to make (I would bet more than $5), but it has value beyond the amount of simple construction that eases my life & pleases me aesthetically.
Is $80 too much? Maybe. Market will determine that, but HP is in business w/a goal of sustainability, growing their company & product lines & providing for their share holders. Making a profit is part of reaching those goals. It seems like some here don't believe companies deserve to make a profit for their work. I disagree. BTW, Apple makes over a 25% margin overall--this is huge.
If it is too overpriced for you, don't get it. If it is too over priced for the market, the product will either fail or they will lower the price.
Yes, the touchstone has value. It is a very nice thing. But the Touchpad needs a lot of value-added stuff to make up for not being an iPad, and not having 10 billion applications.
The Touchpad does not stand a chance vs. the iPad if it is priced the same and one of it's biggest advantages costs another $80.
It doesn't stand a chance against a $350 Android tablet if the "good" HP setup costs $750+.
Trying to make a profit now would be very short-sighted of HP. If HP can't afford to make WebOS into a viable platform, then they shouldn't have bought Palm.
>The Touchstone helps make my Pre be a dream to charge.>
If you're only charging it every few days (which is about the standard so far for most people with tablets: 10 hours of use, which is a few days with off and on use) I don't know what the Touchstone brings to the table.
you don't need to charge it in the middle of the day, or at work, and its certainly not convenient to use when its upright like that.
I believe the arm on the back of the touchstone is adjustable so you can set it at different viewing angles.
You're exactly right about the market determining whether or not this stuff is too expensive and you're also right, if the accessories are too overpriced, don't get them, which I won't be.
I absolutely feel that companies deserve to make a profit for their work. The problem is that you have to look at the market you're in to determine pricing. In this case, part of the draw of the webOS platform is supposed to be its "truly wireless" capability. Synergy, touch-to-share and wireless charging. When the wireless charger costs $80 on top of the cost of the tablet, I see the potential for problems in getting people to choose the webOS platform over their other choices.
And that's where the concern comes in. Yes, generally products come to market with a higher price and higher premium for the manufacturer but with this platform, HP's current position necessitates large adoption of the tablet. If their tie-in accessories are priced too high, that could keep someone from entering the platform at all. I'd really hate to see someone miss experiencing webOS just because they don't see the overall value-add of the platform due to high accessory prices.
Now that very well may not happen but it's reasonable to discuss it and worry about it.
Apple wireless keyboard goes for $69. Has for years so I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a change in price unless it is from ebay or something else.. The AA batteries i use on the Apple wireless keyboard DON'T last for a year either--about a month is more realistic. I would be VERY surprised if the batteries for the HP keyboard last for a year as this article states.
The iPad cases are $39 for polyurethane & $69 for leather so $50 for the HP cover that allows touchstone charging...does seem a bit steep to me, but I don't know the quality of the product. Seems fairly competitive, though.
Wow, I've had a wireless keyboard for six months and the batteries are barely at 80%. however, I've replaced my wireless MOUSE batteries three times in that period. I'm surprised you're getting such poor battery life from your keyboard. You might consider getting it replaced. That's unusual.
Ouch!!! And that's just for the TouchPad. I still have to buy the Pre3 and the chargers and new touchstones that come with that. Well, I rather give them my money than just sit around and wait for products to be released.
80 bucks for the touchstone charger! :-0 If you get the keyboard then the touchstone charger is practically a must. My wallet is gonna need alotta morphine July 1st. When the Sprint Pre launched, I got discounts on accessories for the preorder so here's hoping the touchpad will have the same.
I'll wait until Hong Kong gets ahold of these and scour Ebay after a few months. (saving 80% of course).
Just so you know, I've never had a problem with any of the accessories I've bought this way in the last 10 years.
Do they make knockoff TouchStone chargers?
I wonder how long it's going to be until they start bundling them together at a discount. Since I won't get a touchpad until a new webos phone hits sprint, maybe by then the prices on these accessories will have dropped.
Well - that's exactly it.
Good ole marketing.
Of course this stuff is ridiculously high-priced.
Touchstone was always too expensive.
But HP will make some quick money from early adopters with big wallets.
And then there will be bundling - and the higher the price of the accessory - the bigger the "savings" with the bundle offer.
"Special Thanksgiving TP Boundle - buy this weekend and get a Tochstone for *free* - a $80 *saving*".
"Special xmas offer ..."
And places like Amazon, Best Buy etc... will anyway reduce prices to move volume.
Also - this allows HP to offer the TP at the same "official" price as the IPad - to protect the brand. And then bundle cool stuff like the Touchstone in to undercut it - by providing more bang for the back and make you feel like you get a lot more for your money.
Nailed it!
Except that the iPad3 (or the expectation of its coming) will trump them all. You know it will happen. Then no marketing genius at HP can move the needle.
Not too surprised at the Touchstone price, but also not happy-- I wanted to get two of these, so I could just leave one in each room where I expected to use the tablet.
For $50, I would have sucked it up, but at $80, I'll stick with one and move stuff around a lot.
Oh yeah, developers, start working on an app that allows me to use my Pre to type on my Touchpad. That is all.
Well, too rich for my blood. I was hoping to buy a keyboard, but no way will I buy one at $70.
If they're gonna charge so much for accessories, you think they would have at least dropped the price on the Touchpad by $50 across the board. Too bad HP doesn't make smart decisions.
You may be able to buy another cheaper bluetooth keyboard. Of course, there are special customized keys that touchpad's keyboard is supposed to have but you can have a cheaper 3rd party one that can do basic text entry.
As I said to someone else, this pricing is right in line w/Apple who charges $69 for their wireless keyboard. Apple doesn't have a card key or a notification key. Also, my batteries have NEVER lasted a year in the Apple keyboard. Of course, I am skeptical they will last a year in the HP keyboard.
How are those iPad accessory prices looking now?
So, add in sales tax, we're talking $800-$900 for something that can't do nearly as much as a $300 netbook, and with a tenth of the memory. Ouch!
You aren't exactly comparing apples to apples here. 10th of the memory? Netbooks can afford the added space for a magnetic hard drive. The touchpad is of course solid state memory so its much faster. Try getting a 32 or 64GB solid state on a netbook and come back to me with pricing. You also get a dual core qualcomm processor. This will run circles around your Intel Atom or AMD Fusion found in netbooks. The apps - they'll come. You have a product that is JUST launching. WebOS has been in virtual hibernation for the last year.
What are you talking about? Do you actually hear your argument or are you just blindly trying to defend HP's (and Apple for that matter) gouging the market? You need to go back to your drawing board and re-evaluate your response. First of all, Intel ATOM processors are available in dual core as well. Second, and more importantly, when you get a 32G or 64G SSD drive in a netbook/laptop, those devices will run circles around the touchpad. The SSD drives you purchase for laptops/netbooks do not perform the same as memory in touchpads. A SSD drive can give you upwards of 400MB/sec and upwards of 50,000 IOPS. Good luck trying to get the touchpad to even get close to that. Why would HP install such an expensive, high performing type SSD drive when they know the Touchpad won't be able to drive those types of numbers? Of course they won't - they'll install a lower performing/cheaper type of memory.
Go look at the video from last week that showed the touchpad opening it's mail app. It took over 7 seconds! If I had an SSD drive in a netbook, I'd open OUTLOOK in less than 7 seconds, and that's a pig of an app.
I'll take a netbook with an SSD drive over this overpriced device anyday, AND I'll have one thing to carry, not 2.
OH and by the way a 64G SSD for a laptop runs just over $100, so we're still talking a ton of savings with netbooks.
Ok, so buy a REAL laptop with that $800+ this thing is going to cost with accessories. They will have a processor a LOT faster than this thing. The apps will come? They will NEVER be in the number you can get for a regular laptop or netbook. NEVER.
"for something that can't do nearly as much as a $300 netbook"
I disagree... I see it as something that can do much, much more than a $300 netbook.
Believe me, I realize what you're saying, but in actually it's just plain wrong. Functionality and potential weigh a lot here.
My remarks were aimed at all tabs, not just TP. I'm the guy they're aiming these at, use my computer almost exclusively as a browser and for storage, so I want to buy, but get the most bang for the buck.
Didn't know the difference in memory, but does 32 gb of SS hold more than 250 of the other type? What are some of the additional functions? Genuinely want info, not being snarky.
I'm not convinced of the security or the reliability of access of cloud storage, that's why I'd prefer to buy it once and carry it with.
Thanks, everyone for sharing your knowledge!
don't hold your breath - you'll not get a reasonable response from anyone on how the touchpad can do "much, much" more than a netbook. For every one or two apps that you may find on a tablet, the netbook will have 20 more it can do.
People need to learn how to validate their arguments instead of just saying "it does", or "it's faster", or "it's better". Really, HOW?
Classify how it's better - gaming? Office Productivity? If you're going to throw gyroscope out there, then yea, I can see how games could be more interesting on a touchpad, but I assure you, my employer isn't giving me a netbook/laptop to play games. Now you're classifying the device as an overpriced toy.
Considering that you'll already have an AC charger with the TouchPad, I would imagine that HP will offer the Touchstone sans charger in the near future for $50.
In the mean time, think of it as getting a 'bundle' without the discount...
$50 Touchstone + $30 charger.
Just wait a year, and these accessories will all be marked down to $5 or $10 like the stuff for the Pre. The TouchPad will probably be on clearance for $50 or $100 too. I learned my lesson that Palm (even HP, look at the Veer pricing already) products lose their value within weeks.
If you wait a year you might as well not get it. Plus these are HP products so maybe they will hold value alittle longer.
I wonder if Best Buy will cover Touchpad as part of Buy Back program. Maybe get this one now and in a few months you have the option of trading in and getting 7in tablet (assuming its coming soon).
If the prices fall to that level it means the platform failed.
Why would you then get it at all?
Assuming any kind of success I'd expect the Touchstone to realistically drop to 20-30 $ via some channels.
The official list price will probably stay high or unchanged for a long time - mainly so other sales channels get look cheap in comparison.
I'd consider $60 too expensive for the Touchstone.
But sell it via Amazon for $60 while HP lists it at 80 and it suddenly looks like you get a good deal with that $20 "savings".
What would it mean to the usability of the Touchpad if the platform failed? The flood of apps would dry up?
Yes
pahhahahaha TP on clearance for $50 or $100 in a year??? do you know anything about business...or perhaps you just lack common sense
You are right, forget the $50 or $100. I expect the carrier model to be available free on contract next year if the line goes anything like the Pre-/Pixi- did.
I can see their loyalty promo now, if you have a pre you get a free touchpad case.....
If they gave me one of each of those accessories to "Make things right" I would be a VERY happy camper. I'm happy about all the stuff that's coming but I'm disappointed that we haven't heard a PEEP out of HP about their promise to "make things right". I'm starting to think they're never going to do anything and are just hoping we'll all forget.
If you switched to something else they don't have to make things right for you. :-)
Still rocking the orig Pre (daren't I say Pre-): the Pre3 is definitely my next step. Onward and upward, people! Accessories along for the ride!
ppppppps: just picked up the $5 deal x2 on 1.0 touchstones courtesy of VZW and i'm at a place of peace with my current cellphone solution! Is that REALLY so wrong?
And so my suggestion for the podcast: voip listener call-in half-hour! c'mon ONE half hr to indulge your fans...holla!
Won't any bluetooth keyboard work with the TP? I know I've seen cheaper ones online.
Of course, but this one has WebOS specific keys, not to mention killer battery life.
Didn't think about that. Thanks.
You're welcome!
Get a solar powered one and you can forget about the batteries altogether.
This is all soured by the lack of Pre3.
Ok, now that I know the specs on the TS. My question again in more detail. What will charge a 10 watt device from a car outlet? And now a new question, will there be any magnets. It appears it will only use the hook at the bottom. I am really going to need a car solution if they want me to use it for work.
Cut those prices in half and I'll reconsider. This is just ridiculous.
I'm sorry to say but this is the death of WebOS. For 499 you can buy an iPad 2 and for 399 an eeepad transformer, both of which have huge app market and the eeepad also much better hardware.
And now they are selling accessories at those prices?
WebOS: one of the best OS ever made but managed by some of the worst CEO ever seen (Colligan, Rubenstein) and HP is not better.
Reminds me the history of Amiga.
:-(
BeOS.
As a piece of hardware I really like the iPad (1 haven't seen a 2 yet). But its major failing is iOS, do not like it that is why I will be getting a TouchPad. No one seems to be complaining about the price of Apple accessories.
My god the way you people whine! This is a luxury item, it won't feed you or your kids, you can't make a living with it, it's limited size limits its productivity! The accessory prices will come down or end up being bundled in.
It makes me laugh my **** off to see some dope on a forum telling us all why HP is stupid, and that all their CEO's are slow thinkers. Grow up, they put this stuff out to make money, not because they love you and me!
It was a huge dissapointment to me that there never were many 3rd party accessories for any of the pre's but maybe if HP is able to really get a solid foothold with TP, Veer, and Pre3 there will be some interest. Time will tell.
I've still got a great folding bluetooth keyboad and if it still works I'll try pairing it with my TP before buying the new one, although the new one is really good looking.
I will be buying a TP in shortly after its release. I intend use it primarily for working on my novel and short stories. I'd like to have an Excel and MS Word type of app that I'd happily pay big bucks for to get the added productivity, otherwise I may as well stay with my laptop.
So look everyone, calm down about the pricing of the accessories. Either buy them or not, but quit all the squealing!
my thoughts for the TP are similar to those when I bought a new TV. what is the best value? 42' 46' 50' or bigger? should I get LED or LCD. is the price difference worth getting the 120hz over the 60hz? should I wait to get the TV now, or in 6 months when it should be cheaper?
Honestly I got the tv that when I saw it in person, seemed like the best deal for me. which ended up being a little more. but to me it was justified because Tangled looks freakin awesome right now.
Basically if I think it is worth it I will get it.
Quite right there will always be a better model coming along, if you wait for the best one you would never buy anything. Get what is best for you when you need/can afford it.
I will be eating peanut butter and jelly for a month straight but heck its worth it. Im taking it all baby!!! touchpad, case, chargers.
Some people on here are actually complaining about these accessories. what the **** is your problem. aren't you extremely pumped all of these little toys are available on day1?
I know I am. I am dying to see if my hp keyboard will get updates and work with other devices too. It would be badass to type away on my veer.
HP put me down in the "im gonna be broke but i aint complaining" group
I agree. For the last three months I've been packing my lnch and putting what I would have spent eating fast food in and envelope. I've already got TH and all the accessories paid for by not eating bad food (I still do crave it though).
TP, that is....
HP should do a promotion.
Buy a touchpad in the first 2 weeks it's out and get the case and the touchstone stand for free.
Honestly. I'm in no rush for this thing. I'm in a rush for the pre 3.
I'll get the touchpad when the prices drop. Yeah their prices are In-line with Apple, but come on... Apple is always over priced with their hardware.
Haven't found any UK pricing yet, although there is now pricing info for the TouchPad itself. £399/479 16/32Gb.
I'll be sitting poised at my computer ready to order on the 19th.
Talk about being nickled and dimed. I don't care that the TP is $500, that is still a absurd price for accessories. It's amazing how much people will defend HP just because it's a WebOS product. The fact of the matter is to the average consumer, insane rates like these will turn customers away. The iPad is a beast in the tablet market and the last thing you want to do is create a product that charges just as much of a premium on their products as Apple does when WebOS is not even in the minds of consumers.
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