Harvey Norman drops HP’s TouchPad

Hooray for responsibility!

Or simple cynical self-interest:

Back in the 1990s Dick Smith sold an internet phone console thingie (like the Amstrad one in the UK but with less than half the functionality) that could only be used via a special server - which cost upwards of $20,000 plus steep annual support fees, so no ISP in their right mind would buy it to support a dozen clients.

It was only ever supported in AU/NZ via a test server setup by a university as a favour to the distributor. Several years later the machine the server software ran on got old and was switched off, but with no ageements in place and noone left who knew anything about said server software, that all went away too.

Dick Smith were forced to offer a full refund for every single unit sold - which amounted to about $500,000 and a shedload of bad publicity (not their fault, they weren't the importer - who conveniently (*) went toes up within a few days).

As an ISP, I assessed one unit and reviewed it as "slow, flawed, no more than a toy - and why the hell should I pay that much money for a software which will only be of use to about 5 customers?" - they didn't like me after that... :)

(*) Convenient for the company owners. They were up and running under a new trading identity within a couple of weeks having neatly dodged any legal responsibility that retailers might have tried to drop on them.

This does not bode well for HP

They are one of the few retailers that don't stock apple gear and I reckon they were hoping that being the go to guys for the touchpad would give them an alternative product.

So What ... ?

Which products HN stocks is becoming irrelevant. They are struggling, and predicting that things will get worse.

The realitiy is that people are looking elsewhere to buy their electronics: the price is better, the exchange rate makes it even better, and, most importantly, the service is better.

Thanks HP

Was bought one of these as a gift on Thursday a.m., received call from Harvey Norman Friday PM, swapped for a Motorola Xoom this AM, no questions asked

Thanks for the service Harvey Norman, screw you HP.

dropped ..sort of...

They pulled them from the shelves on Friday then after a hastily arranged meeting with HP Monday morning they, like BestBuy and other retailers in the US and elsewhere, began a firesale ... $98 for the 16gb version and $149 for the 32gb version..

Not sure of how well they are selling but they seem out of stock everywhere and hour after the went on sale at that price.

Suddenly HP has a "success" on its hands????

I'd pick one up for $99

The tech might be dead but a $99 browser tablet (as some places are purportedly flogging it for) isn't a bad deal by any stretch. I also expect in time someone will figure how to crack the tablet opening the possibility of hacking it, maybe even running Android on it.

Perhaps I'm not cynical enough?

I called the tablet as DOA but expected an official admission of it's complete failure to gain market share to take a few months.

I suppose HP are to be applauded for being honest and yanking the WebOS stuff rather than flogging a dead horse.

Harvey Norman in customer service shock!

Service from Harvey Norman?? - RELEASE THE FLYING PIGS

So it seems...

...that they failed the drop test?

Something an IBM Thinkpad would always be able to pass.