Psssst! Hey Mister, Wanna Buy an HP TouchPad Go?
I'm sure many techies remember the TouchPad tablet from HP as one of the most spectacular flops on 2011. This webOS tablet was on the market for less than 2 months before HP threw in the towel, and while that was a short life it was a longer run than the one enjoyed by the TouchPad Go, the smaller tablet which HP had intended to release as a compliment to the 9.7" TouchPad.
The TouchPad Go was going to have a 7" screen, dual cameras, a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm, 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, and all around better specs than the larger TouchPad. Leaked/stolen units showed up a couple times in 2011 (there's even a review) but the tablet was never released.
How would you like to buy one?
Mike Cane has tipped me to a sales listing over on webOS Nation. Some lucky soul claims to have gotten his hands on not one but TEN TouchPad Go tablets:
As of the time I wrote this post, he still has 7 of the tablets, and he's selling them for $300 to $350 each. They run various versions of webOS and all come with 3G/Wifi.
While I do not endorse this seller, I think this is the real deal. The tablets do look like the other photos and images we've seen of the TouchPad Go, and I can even come up with a plausible story for why and how these tablets were lost for 3 years (ask and I'll speculate in the comments).
But I won't be buying one. As cool as it would be to own such a rare tablet, the price tag is just too high.
But do let me know if you buy one; I promise to be appropriately jealous.
It would be interesting to play with webOS, too bad about the price. Ultimate example of limited supply, I guess…
Say, Nate, you wouldn’t have any theories as to why and how these tablets were lost for 3 years, would you? ????
They have 3G, and were lost as a group.
I think they were originally sent to a European telecom for testing on its network so it could support the TouchPad Go when that model hit the market. And when HP pulled the plug, they were shoved in a closet somewhere and forgotten about.
That sounds plausible, right?
It is one of those intriguing things I might have done 15 years ago and then quickly regretted … 🙂 As it was I grabbed a Fire Sale TouchPad, and while I enjoyed it for a bit, the performance on ALL of the HP webOS stuff was just SO mediocre that I can’t even imagine trying it now. Also, the lack of apps in what is truly an app-driven ecosystem just makes it nothing more than a curiosity. I have looked a couple of times at the full TouchPad on eBay (managed to get all of my money back) … but until I can get one for <$75 I am not bothering 🙂
I can’t speak as to the performance; I wasn’t able to do much with mine due to the lack of apps; I just played a few games and then quickly got bored.
I think the total number of webOS apps peaked at around 4,000 (or so says Wikipedia).
I actually bought one the tablets. I enjoy the touchpad go even in 2016