HP begins TouchPad liquidation; 16GB cut to $99, 32GB $149
We were wondering how exactly HP was going to handle the glut of TouchPads in the market now that they've decided they're done making hardware for webOS. Now we have our answer: fire sale! — In a memo sent to HP affiliates …
Context & Ripple Effects
The TouchPad's price collapse has been fast even by tablet standards: HP unveiled the device in February 2011 (announced alongside WebOS 3.0), and by May Wal-Mart was set to carry the 32GB model at $599. Four months later, with HP confirming it is done making webOS hardware, an affiliate memo sets liquidation pricing of $99 for 16GB and $149 for 32GB.
The fire sale lands amid a broader strategic pivot: on the same day HP confirmed its webOS hardware exit, it also confirmed an offer to acquire British software firm Autonomy, and a July shakeup had already moved Stephen DeWitt into the top webOS job while Jon Rubinstein shifted to product innovation. Reports that HP's own webOS team doubted the TouchPad could challenge Apple remain unconfirmed, but the pricing tells the story on its own.
First-order effects
- HP affiliates and retailers holding TouchPad inventory must clear stock at roughly one-sixth of the May shelf price, converting unsold units into immediate cash while signaling to every buyer that no successor hardware is coming.
- webOS loses its flagship device overnight, leaving the platform — acquired with Palm barely a year earlier — without a first-party home.
Second-order effects
- Sub-$150 pricing should drain channel inventory far faster than planned, forcing HP to decide whether to cut off supply or watch demand outrun remaining stock.
- Rival tablet makers now face a de facto price floor reset: any non-iPad tablet priced near $500 competes against a discontinued $99 alternative, pressuring Motorola, RIM, and others on value positioning.
Third-order effects
- HP's simultaneous webOS exit and Autonomy bid sketch a structural retreat from consumer devices toward enterprise software among legacy PC vendors — a template other hardware makers may follow if tablet economics stay this unforgiving.
- If the pattern holds, webOS's future depends on finding a licensee or embedded role outside HP hardware, making platform survival a question of ownership transfer rather than product iteration.
The trend: Legacy PC incumbents are abandoning money-losing consumer tablet hardware rather than funding a prolonged war against the iPad, recycling capital into enterprise software instead.