HP recently announced their decision to ditch their TouchPad line of tablets and in are now selling them for a very inexpensive price of $99 (as opposed to the previous price of $399). Due to this decision, many consumers are making off like bandits with this great deal and are rapidly purchasing the remaining TouchPad tablets. However, this decision will most likely prove disastrous for HP in the long run. Basically, Apple reports the sale of millions of iPads each quarter, so the sale of several hundred thousand TouchPads at most will likely not damage Apple too much, but instead damage both HP’s reputation both with the public and retailers. For example, after HP ceases to offer technical support for its TouchPad tablets, retailers such as Best Buy will soon discover their customer service booths packed with unsatisfied consumers. And furthermore, of course, the disintegration of HP’s line of tablets does not look promising for its ego, and personally I don’t envy HP’s current PR representatives.
In other tech news, a recent study has shown Android OS has surpassed that of iOS in terms of the number of smartphones it operates on. It has been reported by NPD that as of the 2nd quarter Google’s Android OS is running on 52% of smartphones, with iOS occupying 29% of the market, BlackBerry OS with 11% of the market, and Windows Phone 7 and WebOS with less than 5% each.
