As recently as last night (Saturday night) I have actually seen those ‘Glee’ commercials for the HP Touchpad. You’d think they could pull these since the product has been discontinued. Then, we see a $99 blowout of the price, but the only confirmed reports I could find for these prices were in Canada. The US, UK and EU hadn’t had these clearance prices yet. (If you have a confirmed $99 purchase in the US please post in the comments!)
After doing some of my own “Googling” in my area, it showed all of the Office Depot locations having this product for $130. So we made an effort to get up early this Sunday morning (9am is early for us on a Sunday) and try to get our own blowout HP Touchpad. Unfortunately, they were sold out. A drive by the nearby Staples confirmed the same thing.
Oh well. Regardless of the phantom $99 Touchpads, we were able to use a demo unit at Office Depot (which they said they weren’t selling because they weren’t “full, normal Touchpads.”) After tapping around, holding it, etc, I can confirm, this thing is slow, bulky and heavier than our iPad 2.
The reason we wanted one is that I am a developer and there’s rumor that Android will be ported to the Touchpad. I figured, for $99, it was worth it.
I guess we have to wait until the next ‘iPad killer’ arrives, or buy one of the many HP Touchpads on eBay for under $250.