Nearly 24 hours after word broke that the HP TouchPad tablet would go on sale for just $99 for the 16 GB version, and $149 for the 32 GB version, most stores and websites are reporting that they are sold out.
However, Best Buy announced late this evening (Saturday) that, despite earlier reports that they were pulling all their HP TouchPads off the shelves and sending them back to HP, they would instead start selling them again in their stores. The announcement indicated that this would be effective immediately.
In their announcement, they made it clear that their website, BestBuy.com, was sold out and is unlikely to be restocked. But that stores would be selling their remaining inventories at the $99 and $149 prices.
HP.com also currently states that they are sold out. But reports indicate that their warehouse had a huge inventory of HP TouchPad tablets, and some retailers have reported that they are returning unsold inventory to HP instead of selling it at the discounted pricing. On their website, HP says to check back later.
As of this evening, Amazon reports that they have 47 of the 16 GB HP TouchPads, and 52 of the 32 GB HP TouchPads, available through various resellers. None of the tablets appear to be available directly from Amazon. However, the TouchPads that are available are priced much higher than HP’s current pricing. The 16 GB versions start at $319, and the 32 GB versions start at $346. It’s unknown if these resellers will drop their prices considering the current demand.
Newegg.com is also reporting that they have HP TouchPad tablets in stock. But they, too, have not yet lowered the pricing to the $99 and $149 levels.
