HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads • Hacker News Board

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#11

Post by escoz » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:17 PM UTC

mikeknoop wrote: post #3

Did HP accidentally just find the best way to break into the tablet market? Sell hardware at a loss and make it up on software. Console makers have been doing it for some time now.

Selling at a loss works when every game costs 50 dollars.. for 1/2 dollar apps, it's a much harder ladder.

I hope that's the case, though, bcse I still love Palm, and would love to see WebOS succeed.

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#12

Post by heydenberk » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:18 PM UTC

HP should do what they should've done a while ago: promise to make WebOS well-supported and well-stocked with apps, and bring the TouchPad into production at $200 or $250 to still undercut the competition but not bleed cash so profusely. I'd buy into it as a user and a developer.

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#13

Post by dman » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:18 PM UTC

Here in NYC there are many stores which advertise 'Going out of business sale' throughout the year to target innocent tourists. Wonder if someone in HP marketing thought that this would be the best way to jumpstart an initial pool of users.

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#14

Post by martingordon » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:19 PM UTC

mikeknoop wrote: post #3

Did HP accidentally just find the best way to break into the tablet market? Sell hardware at a loss and make it up on software. Console makers have been doing it for some time now.

The analogy doesn't hold. Try to use a TouchPad without buying apps and you'll find that it works pretty well.

Try to use a console without buying games. Hope you enjoy navigating menus!

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#15

Post by ridave » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:19 PM UTC

mikeknoop wrote: post #3

Did HP accidentally just find the best way to break into the tablet market? Sell hardware at a loss and make it up on software. Console makers have been doing it for some time now.

No, probably not. Console games average price is $50 USD, what is an average tablet app cost -- $3.99? Even if they were selling millions of first party apps, it wouldn't recoup the amount of money they lost on the tablet + app development.

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#16

Post by wmf » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:20 PM UTC

hollerith wrote: post #9

markstahler wrote: post #6

Why would they start another production run for a discontinued product sold at a loss? Am I missing something or will HP come out next week and say "Surprise! Here is a great new update for the Touchpad" and start selling them for $200?

they've probably bought the parts or some such.

It's possible that HP could sell the parts alone for over $100. But if they view the parts as a sunk cost (worth $0), it's possible that assembling TouchPads and selling them for $100 is rational.

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#17

Post by toblender » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:21 PM UTC

Looks to me like HP is fattening up WebOS for a resell.

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#18

Post by wmf » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:21 PM UTC

martingordon wrote: post #14

mikeknoop wrote: post #3

Did HP accidentally just find the best way to break into the tablet market? Sell hardware at a loss and make it up on software. Console makers have been doing it for some time now.

The analogy doesn't hold. Try to use a TouchPad without buying apps and you'll find that it works pretty well. Try to use a console without buying games. Hope you enjoy navigating menus!

Except the PS3, which is a pretty good Blu-ray/Netflix/DLNA player and probably had problems with low attach rate in the first few years.

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#19

Post by VladRussian » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:25 PM UTC

martingordon wrote: post #10

Whoever made this decision should be fired. "We took a $100m loss on the first batch of TouchPads, what's a couple million more?"

at the scale of HP's finances and bureaucracy it is just a drop in the bucket and any reasoning behind it isn't comprehensible by a single unit of human species.

Re: HP to produce one more batch of Touchpads

#20

Post by heydenberk » Tue, Aug 30, 2011, 7:25 PM UTC

markstahler wrote: post #6

Why would they start another production run for a discontinued product sold at a loss? Am I missing something or will HP come out next week and say "Surprise! Here is a great new update for the Touchpad" and start selling them for $200?

It may be that it's worthwhile to produce and sell them at $100-$150 given the sunk cost of their leftover unassembled bulk componentry.