HP offers TouchPad on discount month after launch

Hewlett-Packard Co offered a hefty discount on its TouchPad tablet a month after it launched the WebOS-based mobile device in a booming market dominated by Apple Inc's iPad. The company offered an instant rebate of $100 on its website for both its 16GB and 32GB tablet versions, bringing their price down to $400 and $500, respectively. This makes the TouchPad $100 cheaper than Apple's entry-level iPad. HP has not revealed any sales figures on the tablet that launched in July along with a celebrity-studded marketing campaign. But the 9.7-inch tablet got off to a tepid start after critics assailed the TouchPad for poor battery life, slow processing speed and paucity of apps. A HP spokesperson said the discount, which ran from August 5-7, was part of the company's regular seasonal promotions."We're excited to offer the promotion and deepen our commitment to deliver competitive products at competitive prices," she said in a statement.The entry-level TouchPad was also being offered on Woot.com, a daily-deal site, at a further discount of $20.Much of a mobile device's success is based on a robust ecosystem of apps, and HP is far behind Apple or Google's Android platform in the number of apps available. The tablet was launched following HP's $1.2bn acquisition of Palm and its WebOS platform last year with the hope the operating software will be incorporated into all the company's mobile devices and applications. From / Arabian Business News