HP over the weekend began a liquidation of its TouchPad tablet, reducing the price of the two versions of the device to $100 (16GB) and $150 (32GB). Most sources, including Best Buy and Staples, were sold out of the devices within 24 hours of putting the device on clearance.
The move comes as HP announced in conjunction with its third-quarter earnings call Thursday that it would be discontinuing all of its webOS devices, including its line of Palm smartphones.
Best Buy has offered a full refund for those who bought the TouchPad on a 60-day policy, and HP has agreed to refund the difference between what consumers paid at retail and the liquidation prices.
As of this morning, Barnes & Noble still had the devices available online at liquidation prices, while eBay was seeing the TouchPad selling for anywhere between $200 and $250.
The 9.7-inch TouchPad, which runs webOS and features a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 processor, was dogged with tepid reviews and a lack of developer support for the platform.
While HP CEO Leo Apothekercalled sales of the TouchPad “disappointing,” consumers appeared willing to spring for the tablet at liquidation prices. The HP TouchPad was a top trending search term (#HPTouchPad) on Twitter this morning, as consumers scrambled to locate the discounted device.