HP Changes Their Mind and Gives the TouchPad One More Life

Hewlett Packard Co is confused. About a week and half ago, the company announced they were leaving the PC and tablet business, and then set off a buying frenzy by reducing the price of the TouchPad to $99 “from $399 and $499”. The TouchPad sold out incredibly quick. Then the day after, HP released a new desktop. The company sent their VP, Todd Bradley, onto CNBC’s “Closing Bell” to clarify HP’s news. Bradley’s interview was useless – he failed to represent HP’s position or ensure investors. He finished the interview exclaiming HP wasn’t exactly leaving the PC and tablet business but would decide in weeks if they would eradicate it or “spin it off”. The conclusion: HP didn’t know what they were doing. Now, “HP resurrects TouchPad for one last go at the iPad” by Poornima Gupta, Bill Rigby and Edwin Chan of Reuters.com reports HP is going to release a “round” of TouchPads.

The re-release of the TouchPad is inspired by HP’s belief that the TouchPad is getting popular – completely ignoring the motivation of a $300 discount. It seems HP is willing to sell the TouchPad at an extremely reduced price just to have a little glory with a sold out product.  I would like to believe HP is covering up the need to get rid of excess inventory but the company is quoted as saying

“The speed at which it disappeared from inventory has been stunning… We have decided to produce one last run of TouchPads to meet unfulfilled demand”

And not to forget that a massive sale has to have the air of mystery:

“We don’t know exactly when these units will be available or how many we’ll get, and we can’t promise we’ll have enough for everyone. We do know that it will be least a few weeks before you can purchase”

While this is wonderful for those of us who will appreciate a $300 discount, this represents a blurry and chaotic mindset of a company. This back-and-forth and vague decision over the life of the TouchPad is the kind of confusion that “wiped out $16 billion of value from HP in the stock’s worst single-day fall since Black Monday stock market crash of October 1987” after HP announced it was killing it’s PC and Tablet business. Maybe this lack of clarity and immature attempt of marketing a somewhat liquidated product is really covering up HP’s intelligent plan to move the business towards a brighter future… but why do this at the expense of instilling fear in their investors? HP could have avoided all of this by simply staying quiet until after the company definitively decided on the future of the PC and Tablet divisions. Maybe there is a method to this madness, but the result needs to be HP making up its mind.