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