TouchPads shipping to Wal-Mart next week; launch in early June? [exclusive] 88
After filling us in on the $599 pricing of the 32gb TouchPad, our tipster has given PreCentral convincing evidence that Wal-Mart expects that HP will begin shipping TouchPads to select stores beginning on June 2nd. Wal-Mart is also set to receive new displays for the product the week of June 6th. In other words, if Wal-Mart is any guide, the TouchPad could literally be less than two to three weeks away from availability.
Is Wal-Mart a good guide? Well, you don't get to be a huge retailer like Wal-Mart unless you absolutely don't mess around when it comes to distributing products around the county (and the globe). You don't get to be a huge PC company like HP unless you hit your promised ship dates to your most important vendors.
An exact date is hard to pin down, but signs are good that HP's promised "summer" release date for the TouchPad could actually mean early-to-mid June. That period, by the way, lines up nicely with the massive ad campaign we told you about earlier today.
Thanks Anonymous!
88 Comments
omg!
Awesome!!!! I may make a dreaded trip to Wal-Mart if one of those "select" Wal-Marts is near to me.
The People of Walmart. Yep, this is who i target to buy into webOS. All the prosumers who are anyone go there for tech.
People buy HP computers at Walmart. If they see an HP tablet, they'll probably buy it too.
Well...I just bought my wife an iPad2 from WalMart -- the ONLY place that had one in stock in midMissouri last week. Don't knock Wally World. They do a ton of small business sales.
Great. But why not launch the Pre 3 at the same time?
So, if the Pre3 is not yet ready, you are suggesting they delay the TP until the Pre3 is available?
Is that your strategy?
I believe what Cyclingdaddy is saying is that since having a Pre3 is so central to taking advantage of some of the features of the TP, why not launch them together?
As far as deriding his strategy....HP has produced a lot of nothing in the last couple years. So what's another month?
This is really all academic, as we are about to see how little the public (outside of webOS fan sites) cares about this platform.
Hope I'm wrong.
How can the public care about what they haven't seen in public?
Well, I think there's another phone that can pair up with the TouchPad WHEN it gets 3.0. Yeah, the Veer. So delaying to wait for a companion device is probably not the best strategy.
oh, you mean "that little phone" that no one knows it even exists, including sales people in the stores that sell them?
So, if the Pre3 is not yet ready, you are suggesting they delay the TP until the Pre3 is available?
Is that your strategy?
Maybe it will...just not through Wal-Mart.
Tell that to the carriers.
I can relate. Whether or not I get a touchpad hinges a great deal on the availability of WebOS hardware on the carrier of my choice.
However, I'm guessing that new WebOS stuff will eventually make it to most the major carriers... so perhaps it's a function of *when* I buy a touchpad.
Multitasking is the primary reason I'm interested in a TouchPad. Integration with a WebOS phone-- that's what really ups the cool factor over any other tablet for me, especially as a current WebOS user (Pre-).
$599 is a failing price. good luck selling that
If you can't afford the 599 price then this product is not for you - have you checked out the COBY Tablet at BrandSmart?
It doesn't matter if one can afford a tablet @ 600 Bucks. The question is: Will enough people buy it? A handfull of fanboys willing to cough up 600 Bucks will not be enough for HP to go on with webOS.
You realize there is a 16GB version?
But then one can't complain.
See, the question is: why there is a $599 stock # in walmart's list, but not $499 16GB one?
Its quite possible that HP wants the 32GB be alone in the market for a month or two to boost its sales.
I think thats a big mistake, the entry price of $599 will be locked in buyer's mind. Just like XOOM, although it later released cheaper version, the impression of "expensive" has already been set.
Absence of evidence is not evidence for absence.
lol, nice, funny words can't save the sales.
Same price as Xoom
Same fate as xoom
i am sure there will be 200,000 rich people buy this. I just hope HP doesn't expect much more than that. lol
The XOOM debuted at $799. That and the fact that it just wasn't that good is what has doomed it. It really priced itself out of the market and hasn't been able to recover much from shocking potential customers. Only recently are we seeing the lower priced models, which are priced around the same as the iPad starter models, which is what the market has shown it's comfortable with.
The TouchPad will come in a 16GB and 32GB version WiFi with 3G versions later. TouchPad 16GB will likely be $499 (again matching iPad pricing.) I don't see HP having the same kind of problems that Motorola is having.
"(..)which are priced around the same as the iPad starter models, which is what the market has shown it's comfortable with. "
I am sorry to break the sad news, but this is what APPLE CONSUMERS market is comfortable with - the same crowd that is happy to cough up 40%-50% premium in price over similarly specced PCs. The same crowd that carries iPhones, and is perfectly happy with them, so iPad is a logical next step.
And this is also iPad's price that these folks are comfortable with - market creator & owner, and not some "funny" already-three-years-behind-iOS-successfull-market-domination startup WebOS system, for God's sake...
You have to be both better AND cheaper to beat the market leader, why people should buy underdog for the price of dominant technology???
What does the Xoom do that's special? Nothing that I can think of. It just caters to the Android fan. HP has to bust out something that sets it apart from the competition-- or, at least, they have to convince people of that. I already think WebOS kicks android's trash, and the UI is SO much nicer than Apples-- HP just needs the apps to make it attractive and get people to try it out.
And that's what "dooms" the Touchpad. Droid has the app support. Palm and HP have killed their app support. If I'm a developer, I stay away. If WebOS gets traction, THEN I pick up the version of SDK that WebOS is using that month and get busy. But too many anti-developer policies and moves means app counts will be a factor for a long time coming. Coming months and maybe coming years.
Not attacking you, just curious: Name and anti-developer policy or two?
It definitely remains to be seen-- I suspect we'll know in a few weeks just what the tablet app landscape looks like for HP. If the Feb 9 event served it's purpose, there's been 5 solid months for HP to get some developers on board and get some solid apps ready. This is where Honeycomb and the Xoom failed-- they launched tablet devices as soon as the OS (Homeycomb) was in a releasable state, and there just wasn't much in the way of apps designed for that OS / form factor. Now there are a handful of sillier devices running honeycomb... But what's the app scene like now?
So, we'll see. HP could stumble big time. But we'll see.
"(...)If one car failed at one price - then another car at the same price must fail too. Nothing else matters after all."
See, the problem with your analogy is: no matter what car you buy, you will use it on the same infrastructure (roads) and you will put (more or less) same gasoline in, and you will be able to service it in (more or less) the same garage.
Basically, the car alone is the only thing that matters, that differentiates it.
Not so much with the mobile OSes - you are buying into the whole ecosystem - accessories, applications, future support, third-party added functionality (apps again)...
It has nothing to do with affording it. If you plan to be Number 1+ then you better price yourself in a competitive space compared to Number 1. The same price IS NOT competitive.
There is a mindset though that price reflects the value of an item. The iPad is in a price range where it's not cheap and it's considered a luxury, but not so expensive that it's out of the realm of possibility. Apple has been good lately about maintaining a certain sense of elitism and yet keeping the price point just within reach. If HP goes cheaper then they risk sending a message that they're "a cheaper iPad" or "an iPad knockoff". But if they price exactly the same as an iPad then they send a signal to consumers that the two products are equal. After they establish that then they can go on to show how the product is not just an equal but superior (multitasking, touch to share, synergy, just type, social media, etc.,.). Then consumers start feeling like they're getting a deal.
Price won't determine the success or failure of the TouchPad, unless it's *more* expensive than the competition (read: iPad). If you want a cheap piece of **** I'm sure there will be tablet makers out there willing to do so at a lower price. What HP needs is something to differentiate their tablet from the competition.
lol, you making statement like there isn't a thing called android tablets at all.
and there is a "one of the best" android tablet, called "EEE Pad" selling for $399.
if HP doesn't get over their high horse, the end is near indeed.
And my first question is whether Asus is taking a loss on this device or where they've cut corners to make $399 profitible.
Alas. I think HP has a much better chance at establishing brand identity than any of the android manufacturers. Several droid tablets by various manufacturers that all have one thing in common-- an OS by google. but none of them is really better than another honeycomb tablet.
I am biased as both an iPad owner and WebOS user, but Android as a platform is altogether uninspiring to me.
This is a fanboy site, you are preaching to the deaf. People who can actually separate themselves from WebOS and have perspective know that it will fail big time at the same price as the ipad2.
Be like me. Sit back, watch all these people sell out $700 for the touchpad and touchstones and covers and say how great it is and no one gets it. Then buy it on a discount website in 8 months for $199.00.
You don't know any more than anybody else here. You just feel smug with your cynic armchair analysis.
Also your plan doesn't make sense.
If you get the TP for 200 bucks in a few months it probably means you were right and the strategy failed. The tablets get dumped out cheap to empty inventories and you get a cheap - *failed* - tablet. One that is about to be dropped as a platform and won't get any more support by devs.
You'll get exactly what you paid for - cheap because it's not worth much anymore.
OTOH if you wait 8 month and the platform takes off - you can get the tablet a some discount, it'll surely be a bit reduced by then (100, 150, 200 bucks down) - but the next generation will then be introduced. It'll be like getting the IPad shortly before Ipad 2 comes out.
So it's better to have less people buy your product than more people? You would rather pay more money than less money for something? With your logic, HP should charge $1000 right out of the gate, right.
They actually did that with the Pre2. Charged 200 the first few weeks to get all they loyalists to pay up, then dropped it to free.
HP has 0 tablet market share right now. They have no apps. No brand identity (WebOS). You can't go head to head with iPad2 at this point, maybe 2nd and 3rd generations, but not now.
Think before you speak to me next time.
Cannot wait! Wish the 3 was gonna be out then too. (maybe it will) Also, wish my VZW contract was up before September.
OMG! I needed touchpad in my life!!!
I predicted this,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIJX6UDo9MM
My OLD TouchPad is still in good shape - but my OLD Pre is hurting . . . I know stop whining but it has been a week so I am entitled to at least one moment of whining, especiall on a holiday weekend ...life is still good.
OLD TouchPad huh?
What?
It is just my clever way of saying - "I need a new phone now, not a tablet"
Great news about the Touchpad, but my wife and I need new phones bad! Come on Sprint! My original Pre and my wife's Pixi are on there last legs!!! SPRINT! if you don't offer the new Pre 3 I'm going to go somewhere else for my Pre 3! Both mine and my wife's phones are both waiting to be upgraded. I'd hate to lose that just to go somewhere else.
I already jumped ship to Verizon for a Pre2. Way better PHONE signal almost everywhere, and that also translates to way MORE 3G, at least in rural Wisconsin. Recently I was camping for 10 days (RV), and did all my office paperwork using my Pre2 as a mobile hotspot. 0-1 bars with Sprint, 4-5 bars Verizon 3G....
;) what is the point of going camping while taking your work with you?
No offence ;)
June 2nd is right around the corner. Where is the marketing blitz? The shelves could be overflowing with them if people aren't aware of what they are they won't sell...
June 2nd is when they start shipping them to the stores, meaning they will be in the warehouses sometime a few days after that. and then they'll get the display stuff on June 6th. But that doesn't necessarily mean they'll start selling it on the 6th. It might sit in the back of the stores until the 13th or 20th even when they've coordinated the marketing.
Would be fitting to have this launch on June 6th.
Don't need 32gb: I'm grown up already, so I won't need the space for World of Warcraft. Just need space for movies for long trips, and at 1.5gb per 2 hour movie, 16gigs will leave me with more than enough room for all the programs I want plus 4 or 5 flicks. So, get to releasing that version AND the Pre3!
Still, it will be hard to walk into the Evil Mega Mart: promised myself to avoid that place.
Yeah, especially with all of the Evil Carbon Dioxide all the people breathe out.
what about music and e-books though?
I am definitely getting a 32GB'er so I can fit my music and my kids movies on our Big Summer Trip!
Hope the Pre 3 follows soon as well. Want both but need the phone since my last once died and using a POS nokia while I wait for the Pre 3.
I predicted it! I knew it would come out (+or-) a week within the movie "kung fu panda 2"
they are going to use that movie to help promote the touchpad
how?
that would be a nice idea to get to the masses
sweet my money is ready for the touch pad.
I'm gonna **** my pants.
awesome!! Who's standing in line for one? I want a 3g/4g one but I imagine that will take longer. I guess can always tether....or get both.
so we saw webos 3.0beta5 on this site (I can talk about since already leaked by precentral)....so the touchpad prob shipping w a beta that will be patched w OTA update?? (much like the first pre was patched ota right on day 1).
Verizon 3G Pre2 with Mobile Hotspot (or Free Tether...) and the Touchpad is freed from the telco price gouging.
Looks like it is time to drop kick Sprint and move to Verizon. Love the savings Sprint, but we won't wait forever and most of use don't want Android either...we're just tired of waiting.
Thankfully Walmart, Verizon, and ATT are stepping up to play. Sorli...
Shipping next week = good.
$599 price = bad.
You need to undercut ipad by at least $50 probably $75.
I just hope the battery in the touchpad is different from the HP laptop batteries that were just recalled. If not more waiting?
$599 is not bad at all. People would happily pay $50 more for an iPad if there was really no difference between the two products other than brand. $50 cheaper won't make it a killer tablet, and it won't create brand loyalty. Might attract a few cheapskates who don't value quality.
key words "no difference between the two products"
What people here don't understand is that webOS has been a failure up to this point, not as a product, it is great, but as sales success. As an OS, it only makes up 3% of all smartphone OS's in use.
No one knows what it is. Everyone knows what the iPad is. The average shopper who goes into a store and sees them side by side at the same price will choose the ipad.
Blackberry has a much larger base than WebOS and the playbook is already a failure.
The Playbook has the brilliant feature of being sold without EMail. That alone could kill it.
Touchpad OTOH can mostly match everything the IPad has (except for the app selection obviously) and then adds multi-tasking, Flash-support, USB and much better notifications.
Feature-wise it's better than the IPad. The app market is the big variable here.
...actually, there's no chance that webOS has 3% of smartphone market... I simply do not believe it, their sales never took off, and both iPhones and droids are selling like there was no tomorrow.
Remember, this is Walmart. Its going to be priced at $597 ;-). I bet if you wait a month or two, we will see a price drop, especially if they are not moving.
Do some of you have your replies on a hotkey? It seems a good chunk of the comments are the same comments made with every other TouchPad story.
I am a hotkey...
Dieter,
What county are you referring to in the second paragraph?
;)
Manny
Walmart has no deals good enough for me to compromise my ideals.
Are people really gonna switch carriers over a phone? Seriously I'm tired of Sprint users crying about "If the pre 3 doesn't come to sprint then I'm leaving!", said the sprint owner. Go on ahead and switch carriers but when the prices of the bill get too high, don't say that nobody warned you.
Huh? Why would people switch from a service that doesn't offer the option they want? Not following you. They're in the phone business, so they need to offer phones that people want. If there's a group of people who don't want the phones they've decided to offer, then . . . they leave, right?
yup, all 20 of them. lol
After this posted I asked the manager of the electronics section at Wal-Mart when they would be getting the Touchpad. He stated that it should be in the next couple of weeks and that the were getting new displays for it as well.
How are people getting access to Wal-Mart's inventory system? And could someone check if they're going to appear any time soon in Wal-Mart Canada?
So HP is going to deliver ahead of schedule? It's still Spring. Summer doesn't start for another 24 days...
Am I crazy? I seem to remember a 16gb version, presumably priced @ $499 to be released also... no? A lot of posters seem to think that this will be the base model...
this is why they need a store brand...like the microsoft stores and apple they have to do this to get this to the masses. but why didn't they pick target? they have plenty ready... and i hope they will be holding demos and opening day parties with bundle tickets. ( touchpad + veer or pre 3) lets hope :)
I'm expecting Target, BestBuy etc.
So Diether, the TouchPad next week and the Pre 3 on Sprint? What's next? The Pre 2 coming to Sprint?
Before everyone looks at the price and is like OMG YOU CAN'T SELL IT AT $599 AND EXPECT TO BEAT APPLE/ANDROID....
This is the 32gb one. The ipad is the same price for a 32gb. The 16gb will still be $499.
Sheesh.
erm, like, erm, iPad 2 16GB?? And who exactly will buy it, other than few (richer) webOS fanboys, if compared side-by-side with iPad 2?
I've been contacted by HP that TP will be available "soon" through direct buy. I figure I'll get a call June 2.
However, they're too late with Pre3. My PrePlus wouldn't work with our email system through Verizon, I'm not sure TP will, and I didn't get a Pre2 with Pre3 just around the corner.
My Verizon WP7 arrives Tuesday, May 31.
nothing screams high quality like WAL-MART!!!