HP Restarts TouchPad Production, Analysts Confused

Hewlett-Packard is all set once again for a final round of production of its TouchPad, though a Sterne Agee analyst says its “ confusing” as HP probably lost $200 per unit at $99 sale.

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Sterne Agree’s Shaw Wu said that HP’s decision to restart production may improve the value of the WebOS software used by the tablet.

Last Tuesday, HP had announced that it is going to stop making tablet and the Pre phone because of weak sales, it had cut the price of its tablet from $399 to $99 to exhaust the inventory.

“Pleasantly surprised’ by the excessive demand the low price had generated "We have decided to produce one last run of TouchPads to meet unfulfilled demand,” wrote the HP executive in the company blog.

Making more could help satisfy purchase commitments to supply-chain partners, Shaw Wu noted.

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Having more devices out there could make the webOS software more valuable to potential buyers, which he believes includes Samsung Electronics Co., Research In Motion Ltd. (the maker of the BlackBerry) and Amazon.com Inc., among others.

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HP Restarts TouchPad Production, Analysts Confused

(Photo: REUTERS)

To compensate for another delay, expected to last "a few weeks," for TouchPad sales, HP has extended a 25 percent discount off all printers, ink, HP accessories and PCs priced at or above $599, redeemable through a unique coupon code for each user.