The Hunt for Red HP TouchPad.

Sadly I was spending most of Saturday hunting for the freshly discontinued product known as HP TouchPad. Nothing at Best Buy as the salesperson said that they are sending all the unsold inventory back to HP. Office Depot only had a few units in the morning and all sold out as the remaining stock will be delivered to the store on Monday morning.

As predicted, HP’s own online store is experiencing a meltdown. I tried placing an order only to see script errors as far as the shipping address confirmation.

I bet a lot of people wanting to get a $99 tablet computing device. That seems to be the pricing that makes people want one. Unfortunately manufacturers would have to eat up the cost.

——-

editor’s note:
There is no such thing as “Red HP TouchPad”, it is a play on “The Hunt of Red October”.

The Future of webOS.

I have the feeling that webOS team were just as surprised as many of us when HP announced the exit out of webOS hardware. “The next chapter for webOS” post (and email to webOS developers) seem to back up my assertion.

As many of you are aware, we are currently scheduled to hold many developer events around the world. We are planning to continue with these events, however, due to the recent announcements; the nature of them will change. These updates will be posted on our events registration site this coming week. We are eager to present to you the updated strategy for webOS and to hear your feedback.

It seems to be the case of decisions made on the management level without any inputs from webOS team.

In addition to that, AppleInsider and Electronista noted that resellers begun clearing out HP TouchPad priced as low as $99 and $149 for 16GB and 32GB model respectively.

Microsoft is now actively pursuing published webOS developers to Windows Phone 7 platform.

What would the future be like for HP and webOS?

Another big news came out this week. HP to put its webOS hardware on hold and plans to spin off its PC business.

From webOS Developer Forums:

folks, I know it’s tough, but try to relax a bit. I’m working to get you as much information as I can as fast as I can. All I can say right now is that is that I don’t see this as bad for webOS.

Would HP strike deals with hardware manufacturers to license webOS?

The TouchPad, HP’s first webOS tablet ales figure is disappointing. Best Buy is reportedly only sold 25,000 units out of the 250,000 units shipped to the big box retailer.

HP is also looking into spinning off its PC business. Apparently high sales number doesn’t really translate into high profit.

——-

I for one was looking into getting HP Pre3, unfortunately HP is getting out of the mobile hardware business before it’s actually released in the United States. HP Pre3 is now available in Europe right before HP announced its discontinuation.

I wonder what the future be like for HP and webOS.

OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive is delivered.

OK, I promise this would be the last of the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive trilogy post. It arrived sometimes this afternoon while I was still at the office.

Recap:
I ordered OS X Lion Thumb Drive a little bit after midnight Tuesday August 16th, 2011. I received the shipping notification in the afternoon. It arrived within a day.

Now, where did I keep the MacBook Air Software Installation USB Thumb Drive? It looks exactly the same.

UPDATE:
Found the MacBook Air Software Reinstall USB Drive

OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive is now shipping.

UPDATE:
According to UPS tracking data, it is due for delivery on Wednesday August 17th, 2011. That’s like overnight delivery service, well that’s because I’m in Southern California.

I ordered the OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive from Apple Store shortly after midnight. In the early afternoon, Apple notified that my order is being shipped and due for arrival on Thursday August 18th, 2011.