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