It's about to get a second life. (HP TouchPad/supplied)
WebOS may continue to be with HP, with the company announcing plans to make one more batch of its now-successful TouchPad after the firesale in order to appease demand for the tablet that was supposed to be killed off.
According to Reuters, the company was “pleasantly surprised” by the demand generated by the firesale. Yes, because you too would be surprised by the fact that you undercut your profits in order to get rid of the stock only to find it popular.
After announcing that it will stop producing webOS devices, like the HP TouchPad – was was on sale just for three days in Australia before HP pulled the plug, the company’s decision to make another batch of tablets could see webOS being revived as a competitor to the iPad – because it could have a significant number of users now, thanks to its AU$98 pricetag.
However, it is unknown if HP would mark up the price – which would cause a repeat of the same problem, the price is “too high” (especially after the fire sale) or leave it as it is. But no matter what, HP will still make a loss on the tablet – though, hopefully a taste of a TouchPad could mean that they are hooked on webOS (likely not, though).
Essentially, the biggest problem with HP is the continual shift between strategies – between focusing on the consumer and enterprise markets. It’s current CEO, Leo Apotheker, definitely is more focused on enterprise and the selling off or spinning out of its PC consumer business – a shocker when it was announced as it is the world’s largest PC maker (because HP is smart for selling its most successful part of the company) – further points to his vision for HP.
It doesn’t mean the shareholders are happy with it. Its stock price went down 20 percent during the day he announced his plan, wiping $16 billion of its value. While its shares are slowly going up again, the company is still below its price before the announcement was made (which is that red circle)
It’s a bad time to be a HP shareholder. It’s worse if you are HP employee in the unit.