HP Puts TouchPad On $99 Firesale, Best Buy Joins The Fun

Here's an idea for tablet makers who are striving to compete with Apple: sell your device for $99. We know, that's no way to actually stay in business, but it's working like a charm for HP, even after the company announced that the TouchPad was a dead product this past week. Shortly after the company made clear that this was the end of the road for webOS devices, a few Canadian e-tailers began to sell the product for $99 (16GB) / $149 (32GB). Tremendously cheap prices considering the $499 starting point just a month or so ago. Furthermore, that sale soon spread south, with some American companies (and direct through HP's website) doing the same sale but in U.S. dollars.

During all of this mayhem, Best Buy has reportedly said that they would not be participating in the firesale; instead, they would be shipping an estimated 250,000 unsold TouchPad products back to the company to deal with. But for whatever reason, the company did a 180 and decided to join in on the fun; and why not? Best Buy has always been a place to upsell customers on product replacement plans and unnecessary accessories, and having mobs of people flocking in to save money on a tablet (money that could be spent on other things in Best Buy) sounds like a good idea when you really think about it.


As of now, the TouchPad seems to be sold out in pretty much every online corner of the Internet, but if you missed out there, heading to a local Best Buy store is your best bet. The company is limiting users to 1 SKU per person, and if all you need is a mobile device to surf the web and enjoy a bit of multimedia on, this is a hard deal to pass up. Also, here's a tip for HP -- you should've priced these at $199. They would've still sold out! (But thanks, anyway!)